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The European Parliament unanimously asks Spain to assume the claims of the victims of the lost fishing vessel Villa de Pitanxo and dive on the wreck
The European Parliament unanimously asks Spain to assume the claims of the victims of the ‘Pitanxo’ and dive on the wreck.
The Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament has unanimously urged the Government of Spain on Tuesday to assume the claims of the families of the victims of the sinking of the fishing vessel ‘Villa de Pitanxo‘, which cost the lives of 21 people in the waters of Newfoundland, Canada, and the descent to the wreck is carried out to obtain evidence and clarify the possible causes of the shipwreck.
After listening to the families of the victims and the unanimous assessment of the parliamentary groups, the president of Petitions, Dolors Montserrat, has decided to send a letter to the Spanish authorities to act as quickly and diligently as possible to respond to the request of the petitioners, including the descent to the wreck, to clarify the causes of the accident.
The spokeswoman for the families of the ‘Villa de Pitanxo’, Maria José de Pazo, explained that there are “many unknowns and gaps” about the shipwreck on February 15, 450 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland , of which no the bodies of 12 victims have yet to be recovered.
In this sense, he has asked to “know the truth” about the case to “do justice and prevent it from happening again” and has called on the European Parliament to require the Government of Spain to comply with the law “once and for all”.
The families of the victims focus their demands on descending to the ship to carry out a recording that allows obtaining evidence that clarifies the causes of its sinking. In this sense, they regret that the Executive of Pedro Sánchez treats the accident as one more or as if it were a shipwreck from a century ago.
For her part, a representative of the European Commission has confirmed the ongoing investigation of the National Commission for the Investigation of Maritime Accidents, which has a period of one year to issue a report. As the technical investigation and the descent to the wreck have been delayed, the representative has assessed that it is possible that this report in February 2023 will be provisional until the result of the technical operations in the wreck that she has indicated for next spring.
Halifax Coast Guard searching for survivors of the Villa de Pitanxo. Photo: Halifax Coast Guard
UNANIMITY
The request for the sinking of the trawler in Atlantic waters has elicited unanimity from all the groups, an unusual situation in a commission in which the Spanish parties tend to show their differences on matters of national politics.
Thus, the PP MEP, Francisco Millán Mon, has demanded progress in the open procedures and put all the means to try to recover the bodies that may be trapped in the rigging of the sunken ship.
In this sense, he has lamented the “inexplicable” delay of the Government and that it has lost “very valuable” time to proceed with the exploration, which is now doomed to next year when weather conditions allow it.
The representative of the PSOE, Nicolás González Casares, has insisted that Petitions “is not the one who has to determine the causes of the shipwreck” although he has indicated that he can help to continue on the line to clarify what happened.
After defending that the Sánchez Executive has not been “with arms crossed”, he has recognized that it is important to advance in knowing the causes of the shipwreck and increase maritime safety.
Adrián Vázquez, from Ciudadanos, has emphasized that “what has to be done is done” to ensure that a situation like this does not happen again. “If you have to go down to the wreck, let it go down as soon as possible,” he has defended. While Sira Rego, from IU, has opted to investigate what happened in the European Parliament and use the technical means available to investigate the shipwreck.
According to the BNG MEP, Ana Miranda, this episode shows that Spain “does not resolve these investigations well”, after referring to accidents such as the Prestige or the Alvia train in Santiago, and has considered “tremendously ridiculous” that exploration is now being studied of the wreck, eight months after the accident.