Portsmouth, Va. — The U.S. Coast Guard has ended the search for the four remaining crew members of a Spanish fishing vessel that capsized more than 1,000 miles east of Bermuda Thursday.
The Coast Guard’s Rescue Coordination Center Norfolk, located here, suspended active search operations around 4 p.m. (EST) Saturday.
Seven of the 11 crew members from the Spanish-flagged Jose Almuiña were rescued Thursday by two commercial vessels. The motor vessel Navig8 Stealth II recovered six crew members from a raft Thursday morning. The motor vessel SKS Mosel located and recovered one crew member clinging to debris in the water later in the day.
During the three-day search that covered almost 4,400 nautical square miles, Coast Guard C-130s from air stations Elizabeth City, N.C., and Clearwater, Fla., a C-130 from the Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing from Gabreski Field in West Hampton Beach, N.Y., a C-130 and P-3 aircraft from the 405th squadron 14th wing of the Canadian Forces in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and two other commercial vessels, the Red Lilly and Schippersgracht, located additional debris from the Jose Almuiña, but never found the remaining four crew.
The seven rescued crew members will remain aboard the commercial vessels until their next ports of call.
