On Tuesday, a fishing boat with 27 people aboard sank approximately 200 miles (320 kilometers) off the Falkland Islands coast, resulting in at least six fatalities and seven individuals missing, as reported by British and Spanish maritime officials.
The 176-foot (54-meter) vessel, named the Argos Georgia, went down in the South Atlantic Ocean near Argentina. Fourteen people managed to reach a life raft and were subsequently rescued by nearby fishing boats, according to Spanish authorities.
Officials from Spain’s Pontevedra province in southeastern Galicia confirmed that ten of the crew members were Spanish but did not provide further details on their condition. The crew included members of various nationalities.
On Monday, the Falkland Islands—referred to as Islas Malvinas by Argentina, which asserts ownership—received an emergency distress signal from the Argos Georgia. The signal revealed that the boat was located east of Stanley, the capital of the Falklands, as it started to take on water. At that time, the vessel was moving at 35 knots, according to MarineTraffic.com.
Search-and-rescue operations were promptly launched, involving aircraft and several vessels.
The Argos Georgia is operated by Argos Froyanes Ltd, a private British-Norwegian joint venture, and was registered under the flag of St Helena, another British overseas territory in the South Atlantic. The vessel, built in 2018, is tracked by Vesselfinder.
The Falkland Islands were the site of a conflict between Britain and Argentina in 1982, when Argentina’s attempted invasion led to the deaths of 649 Argentines and 255 British soldiers.
