Two fishing vessels collided near the Argentine zone and one sank

Two foreign fishing vessels from China and Spain collided in the early hours of Friday, February 15 in the South Atlantic. One of them sank. That is why Prefectura Naval Argentina has deployed a "vast operation" for victims.

The incident occurred 9 nautical miles (about 16 km) from the exclusive economic zone of Argentina (EEZ) in the waters of the South Atlantic, "for reasons that are the subject of a investigation, "said Préfectura in a statement.

The shock of the Zhongyuanyu 11 (China) and Pesca Vaqueiro (Spain) boats occurred around 2 am (local time) "in an area where more than 230 fishing vessels regularly operate to catch ilex squid", -he declares. Sergio Cernadas, prefect of the maritime traffic control center.

"Prefectura is deploying a vast badistance operation for the Chinese-flagged ship ZHONGYUANYU 11 and the Spanish fishing vessel PESCA VAQUEIRO which, for reasons under investigation, collided 16 km from the EEZ", they added to their official Twitter account.

ADELANTO: Prefectura deploys a vast badistance operation for the Chinese-flagged vessel ZHONGYUANYU 11 and the Spanish fishing vessel PESCA VAQUEIRO which, for reasons under investigation, collided 16 km from the EEZ pic.twitter.com/mHcpaCNA5R

– Prefectura Naval Arg (@PrefecturaNaval) February 15, 2019

The Chinese fishing vessel (Zhongyuanyu 11) "has triggered an alarm signal with a locator and rescue beacon received by the Argentine Navy," the prefecture added.

Later, during the last generation of Coastal PRO, the Force located the emergency zone and ordered its movement to the Coast Guard GC-24 Mantilla, which was patrolling the exclusive economic zone, and an aircraft flying over it. this. the area in coordination with the Coast Guard.

Meanwhile, it is believed that there were no casualties since the crew was rescued by another fishing vessel of the same nationality. "There is no hypothesis yet about what happened: the squid fishing is carried out with powerful lighting to concentrate the fish, so that it would be excluded that There is a problem of visualization, "added Cernadas.

Official sources said that "since the collision occurred outside Argentina's exclusive economic zone and no local ship is involved, the courts are not competent to act, except that the ship that has not sunk enters an Argentine port, which is difficult since.These boats normally use the city of Montevideo as a port of operations ".

DR CP