The ship Villa de Pitanxo from Galicia (in northeastern Spain) had 22 crew members on board. Only three of them could be saved.
The emergency services saw four lifeboats floating around early on Tuesday morning (around noon Belgian time). They were able to reach three of the four boats. Two of them were completely empty, the third had three crew members who were severely hypothermic. The water was very cold, according to the emergency services, who are still looking for the fourth lifeboat.
According to Spanish media, several ships and helicopters of the Canadian Sea Rescue Service are taking part in the rescue operation, as are some fishing boats from Portugal and Spain, among others.
According to Spanish media, the crew consisted of twelve Spaniards and ten Ghanaians and Peruvians.