The government of the Falkland Islands has decided to suspend search and recovery operations for the last missing fishermen from the longliner Argos Georgia, which went down on Monday in extreme weather in the South Atlantic. The sinking - and the conditions that the survivors had to endure after abandoning ship - claimed the lives of at least nine crewmembers. The four who remain missing are presumed dead.
On Monday afternoon, Argos Georgia reported a serious flooding incident at a position about 200 miles to the east of the port. The situation on board quickly deteriorated, and before help could arrive, the crew was forced to abandon ship into their life rafts. The British Forces South Atlantic Islands (BFSAI) launched a long-range search aircraft, which located the rafts and kept watch on their position; however, severe weather and long range thwarted an attempted helicopter rescue.
The fisheries patrol vessel Lillibet and two Good Samaritan fishing vessels diverted to assist, and they reached the rafts on Tuesday. One raft with two survivors had capsized in a wave, according to La Voz de Galicia, and one of the two occupants died of hypothermia. The fishery patrol vessel found another raft with 13 survivors and brought them safely aboard. By Tuesday night, a total of 14 crewmembers had been rescued alive, nine bodies were recovered and four fishermen remained missing.
On Wednesday, given the low odds of finding any more survivors in the cold South Atlantic water and the continued risk to personnel, the Falklands government called off the search.
"Due to consideration of all circumstances, including the weather conditions forecasted and the safety of those involved in operations, the decision has been made to stop the search and rescue efforts. A further recovery effort will be made to find those still at sea as soon as this is practicable," the government said in a statement.
The cause of the casualty is under investigation.
The Lillibet and the 13 survivors aboard arrived back in Port Stanley on Wednesday night. The 14th survivor remains on the Good Samaritan fishing vessel Robin M. Lee and will disembark when the boat returns Thursday.
Six of the survivors are from Spain's fishing community, including the captain, chief officer and chief engineer, according to La Voz de Galicia. Spanish authorities may charter a flight to bring them home to their families, since scheduled air services to the Falklands are infrequent.
