Nine fishermen are now confirmed dead, 14 are alive, and four more are still missing after the sinking of the Spanish fishing vessel Argos Georgia about 170 miles off the coast of the Falkland Islands, reports the Spanish daily newspaper Faro de Vigo. 

The Chilean-flagged factory vessel Puerto Toro, belonging to PescaChile, along with the Vigo-based fishing vessel Robin M. Lee, assisted the search and rescue operations launched by the Malvinas government and recovered three liferafts.

Reports from Chile say that Puerto Toro arrived at the search location around 09:00 a.m. local time on July 23 and retrieved two liferafts. Thirteen crew members were found alive in the first raft, and the second liferaft had one live crew member, but one deceased.

The Puerto Toro also recovered another four bodies in the area, said Chilean sources.

Later that day, the Falkland Islands government fishing patrol boat Lilibet located a third raft with 13 fishermen "safe and sound."

Severe weather conditions in the Drake Passage area, where the ship sank, made rescue efforts challenging. Rescuers faced 35-knot winds and eight-meter-tall waves.

The Argos Georgia, built in 2018 at the Turkish shipyard Tersan, was managed by Argos Froyanes, a joint British-Norwegian company. The crew of 27, which was fishing for Pathogian toothfish, included 10 Spaniards, eight from Glacia. The crew also included eight Russians, two Uruguayans, two Peruvians and five from Indonesia.

The list of Spanish survivors includes captain José Saborido Rey, first officer Jose Ramon Hombre Saborido and chief engineer Ramon García Reiriz from Ribeira; second officer Francisco Gondar Sanjorge from Pontevedra; Amparo Burguillos, a biologist from La Mancha; and scientific observer Pere Hernández Banquete, from Barcelona, reports Faro de Viga.

Among the dead are skipper Cesar Acevedo Duran from Vigo and ship's cook Santiago Amoedo from Baiona, the newspaper reported.

The search continues for four more crew members.

Meanwhile, the Spanish city of Vigo has declared July 24 an official day of mourning, reports Faro de Vigo. The local government issued a statement stating that flags will fly at half mast. 

It's a hard blow for the people of Galicia, Spain, who experienced a similar marine tragedy just two years ago.

Recall that in 2022, 21 Spanish fishermen died when the 50-meter-long Villa de Pitanxo sank in international waters about 450km southeast of the Canadian island of Newfoundland, as reported by Undercurrent News.

The crew included 16 Spaniards, five Peruvians and at least three Ghanaians. Nine bodies were recovered and repatriated to Spain, but the remaining 16 were never found. At the time, it was the largest fishing disaster for Galacia in the last 50 years.

Earlier this year, mothers, siblings and children of the diseased came to Newfoundland for the unveiling of a monument to honor the 21 seamen who were lost, reported CBC.