The National Court announced this Thursday the opening of the trial against the two directors of the company owning the Galician fishing vessel Villa de Pitanxo and the captain, Juan Enrique Padín, for the death of 21 of the 23 crew members during the sinking of the vessel in February 2022 in the waters of Newfoundland (Canada). The three face nine years in prison and the payment of millions in compensation. They will have to deposit 44 million euros to cover the amounts that will be determined in the sentence.
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The investigating judge of the case, Ismael Moreno, opens a trial against the administrator of Pesquerías Nores Marín, José Antonio Nores Ortega; the Fleet Director, José Antonio Nores Rodríguez; and the ship’s captain, Juan Enrique Padín. All of them are charged with 21 alleged crimes of negligent homicide and reckless injury; crimes against workers’ rights due to the lack of prevention and safety regulations on board; and a crime of document forgery. As a subsidiary civil liable party, the investigator points to the commercial entity Pesquerías Nores Marín; and to the insurance company British Marine Luxembourg, as the direct civil liable party. Thus, the judge requires the three accused to deposit 44 million euros as bail to guarantee any pecuniary liabilities or compensations that may be imposed on them, and demands Pesquerías Nores as a subsidiary civil liable party to provide the same amount jointly and severally with the three accused, as well as the insurance company British Marine Luxembourg, SA.
Furthermore, the head of Central Investigating Court number 2 of the National Court has summoned the three accused and the legal representative of Marisquerías Nores to deliver the order for the opening of the oral trial in a final appearance scheduled for next Tuesday, July 28, to which they can respond with their defense briefs. The public prosecutor requests nine years in prison for the captain and both shipowners, in addition to 13 years of disqualification from engaging in activities in the fishing sector. The private prosecutions for the 21 deceased (only nine bodies were recovered) announce that they will seek higher penalties, although the victims’ families have expressed satisfaction with the content of the trial opening order. “It is moving in the right direction and we continue to say that we trust in justice,” states their spokesperson, María José Do Pazo.
Four years after one of the biggest shipwrecks for Galician fishing due to the number of victims, the investigation has revealed that various factors contributed to the sinking of the ship, for which the investigated parties are held responsible. According to the accusations, the two shipowners and the captain “allowed the activity to be carried out under unsafe conditions, with disregard for preventive measures and with gross contempt for the life and physical integrity of the vessel’s crew, which led to the fatal outcome.”
There is no doubt that the fishing vessel was overloaded. Part of this overload consisted of fuel tanks, installed without legal authorization, which were not included in the vessel’s design. In this way, the waste hopper was closer to the sea surface than it should have been, according to the ship’s stability book, and this increased the frequency of water ingress. “Both the captain and the shipowners authorized and consented to modifications being made to the vessel to allow more fuel to be loaded and for the drafts upon the vessel’s departure to be greater than authorized,” the prosecutor emphasizes.
From 4:16 AM on February 15, the propulsion engine of the Villa de Pitanxo stopped due to loss of electrical power. The bilge pumps in the fish hold stopped, and the emergency generators were activated. “The most probable cause of the main engine stopping was excessive heeling, more than 35%. Almost simultaneously with the start of the emergency generator, the captain issued a distress call and ordered the abandonment of the ship. Most of the crew members were on the upper deck and tried to access the bridge to reach the life rafts,” the prosecutor’s report states.
In those moments of confusion, several crew members managed to lower the starboard life raft, in which the captain, Eduardo Rial Padín, and at least seven other sailors boarded, wearing work clothes or life jackets, but without immersion suits. Not all managed to reach the bridge. Some were in the interior spaces when the vessel sank. “The last AIS signal was emitted at 4:23:02, from which it can be concluded that the vessel sank completely a few moments after being emitted, and between 4-5 minutes after the crew was ordered to abandon ship,” the indictment states.
About 15 minutes later, the National Search and Rescue Coordination Center located two Galician fishing vessels operating in the vicinity of the sinking. In the life raft, only three crew members were rescued alive; the other four had died. Another five bodies were recovered floating. Among the victims, the autopsy concluded that seven had COVID.
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