A private Norwegian company is willing to provide, free of charge, a side-scan sonar and a robot to go down to the ‘Villa de Pitanxo’the Galician ship sunk in the waters of Newfoundland (Canada) last February.
This has been advanced by the spokesperson for the relatives of the ship’s crew, María José Do Pazo, after meeting -along with other relatives– this Saturday with the president of the Xunta de Galicia, Alfonso Rueda; and the Minister of the Sea, Rosa Quintana.
As he explained, it was the regional head himself who informed them of this offer. Also, Rueda has offered that the Galician Government bear the costs of shipping and returning these devices, which must be installed on a ship donated by the Government.
It is for this reason that, as Rueda has assured the relatives, he will transfer this offer to President Sánchez at his next meeting, urging him to dispose of that state ship. Before that, the head of the Galician Executive wants to meet with the opposition spokesmen to agree on a common position.
“This is a small step forward. I hope that President Sánchez or whoever has to decide this in the Government, picks up the glove. President Sánchez, put the ship in and let’s go now, we’re against the clock,” urged María José.
The spokeswoman has insisted on clarifying “what families are really looking for.” “We ask that the ship be lowered, which is viable, it can be done without putting anyone at risk, now in the summer according to what the experts say. We want it to be done in order to obtain evidence to clarify the causes of the sinking. us and for all the people of the sea, that conclusions be drawn so that it never happens again”, he explained.
The meeting with Rueda takes place a day after the National High Court, by way of an order, decided to postpone for a week the statement as investigated (accused) of the captain of the fishing boat, Juan Padín. He will have to go to court on June 6. The other two survivors, Eduardo Rial (his nephew) and Samuel Kwesi, will appear as witnesses.
Despite this, the National Court has not yet declared itself competent to investigate the case of the sinking of the Galician fishing boat, but it has taken another step in the proceedings of the case since, according to legal sources consulted by Europa Press, it has It is up to them to start said proceedings because they have knowledge of the cause, especially the urgent ones. Later, the procedures will be carried out to decide who is the competent court, which predictably will have to be the Supreme Court who points it out.
Petition for “logic and humanity”
For his part, the head of the Xunta in an act in the City of Culture has defended that the request of the relatives to go down to the wreck “to know exactly what happened”, which is “viable”, is “reasonable, logical and even of humanity”.
Rueda has commented that they have transferred their “support” to the families and that they will discuss their request with President Sánchez, as well as the willingness of the Xunta to collaborate in the actions that, however, depend on a ship that, according to the relatives, , the State could facilitate.