Spanish fishing boat sinks off Canada, killing 10

A Spanish fishing boat has sunk off Newfoundland in eastern Canada, Spanish officials said.

Canadian rescuers said they had recovered three more bodies on Tuesday after the boat sank off Canada's east coast overnight. This brought the death toll to 10.

Rescuers have already saved three crew members, and another 11 people are still missing.

Spanish officials had previously reported 7 deaths and 14 missing.

A Canadian helicopter was searching the area about 450 kilometers (280 miles) off Newfoundland in the hope of finding the missing crew.

The survivors and dead were found in one of four lifeboats, two others were empty, and one was missing.

What is known about the fishing boat that sank?

The 50-meter (164-foot) long Spanish fishing boat, called Villa de Pitanxo, operates out of northwest Spain's Galicia region. 

The boat is a freezer trawler that was registered in 2004 and is based in Marin, a small port near Pontevedra.

Spain's transportation ministry said it had received two distress signals from the Villa de Pitanxo at 5:24 a.m. (0424 GMT) in Madrid time.

The boat sank around 600 GMT or 1 a.m. EST, Spain's regional representative Maica Larriba told Spanish public radio. She said the on-board data recorder ceased transmitting at that time.

Five hours later, a second Spanish boat in the area spotted two life rafts, one of which was carrying three survivors and numerous bodies. The survivors all had hypothermia.

Galician regional government head Alberto Nunez Feijoo said the country's ambassador to Canada said seven bodies had been located.

"The sea was very bad," he said.

What do we know about the rescue and the survivors?

Spain's maritime rescue center in Madrid received the first distress beacon and coordinated with Canadian authorities.

An emergency center in nearby Halifax operated by the Canadian air force and coast guard, dispatched a Hercules-type helicopter and a rescue vessel to the area 450 kilometers (280 miles) off Newfoundland.

Among the survivors were the boat's skipper, 53, and his nephew, 42, the regional paper La Voz de Galicia reported. The two men had reached their families by phone, the paper said.

Spain's maritime rescue said the crew consisted of 16 Spaniards, five Peruvians and three from Ghana.

sid,ar,lo/wmr, jsi (AP, AFP)