ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — A young biologist from the Canary Islands is among the 12 men missing at sea after the sinking of a Spanish vessel off the coast of Newfoundland last week that is being described as Spain's worst fishing disaster in decades.

Manuel Navarro was just 33 years old and he was aboard the Villa de Pitanxo as a fisheries observer, logging the size and quantity of the ship’s catch, said Matías Fonte-Padilla, who is president of a professional body representing biologists in the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago west of Morocco.

“We are really destroyed,” Fonte-Padilla said in an interview Monday night. “We know how the weather is there, the sea conditions ... we know that it’s impossible to survive in these conditions.”

The Spanish fishing vessel Villa de Pitanxo sank Feb. 15 in rough, icy waters about 460 kilometres east of Newfoundland, leaving nine dead and 12 missing at sea. Three men survived. A Spanish military plane left St. John’s, N.L., Monday afternoon carrying the bodies and the survivors, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was on the tarmac to greet the plane.

"All of Spain accompanies the families of the victims of this tragedy in their pain," he tweeted in Spanish on Monday night. Spanish officials said last week the sunken vessel’s crew included 16 Spaniards, five Peruvians and three Ghanaians.

Fonte-Padilla said the sinking of the Villa de Pitanxo is the worst Spanish fishing tragedy in decades, and the event has left island residents with many questions about what happened and why. But most of all, he said, it has left them with grief — especially those, like Manuel Navarro's family, who are hoping their loved one's body may still be recovered and brought home for a proper burial.

"Now is the time for praying, if you're religious,” Fonte-Padilla said. “And if not, then for waiting.”

He said a demonstration is planned for Saturday on the island of Gran Canaria, in the capital of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in honour of Navarro and the 11 others who are still missing. People don't want them to be forgotten and they want to push the Spanish government to do all it can to find them, he said.

The Canadian-led operation to find the 12 missing fishers was called off Feb. 16, as search and rescue teams dealt with strong winds and 10-metre-high seas. Last week, Jose Manuel Albares, Spain’s foreign minister, called for the search to resume as soon as weather allowed.

The Newfoundland and Labrador RCMP have said they don’t have jurisdiction in the area where the vessel sank and the investigation should fall to the Villa de Pitanxo's country of registry, which is Spain.

A spokeswoman with Global Affairs Canada said Tuesday that Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly spoke with Albares last week, while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has spoken with Sánchez. "They discussed the strong bilateral collaboration in response to the tragic sinking of the Villa de Pitanxo off the coast of Newfoundland and conveyed Canada’s sincere condolences," Christelle Chartrand said in an email.

Global Affairs Canada has directed inquiries about resuming the search to the provincial RCMP.

Meanwhile, Spanish Ambassador to Canada Alfredo Martínez Serrano met with Newfoundland and Labrador's deputy premier Tuesday to discuss how the countries will work together to honour the dead and the missing crew members.

"It'll take them time to grieve, and appropriately so," Premier Andrew Furey said in an interview Tuesday. "But my assurances for him and for the Spanish people would be that we would be there to memorialize the lost crew members when appropriate."

The histories of Newfoundland and Labrador and Spain are connected through the fishing industry and the tragedies it can bring, and Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are sharing in the pain felt by the Spanish, Furey said. 

"I think moments like this cause us all to reflect on why we're here, and the sacrifices that have been made throughout our generations on the ocean to ensure we had a better life," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 22, 2022.

Sarah Smellie, The Canadian Press