VILLA DE PITANXO

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Investigation into sinking to be extended

The National Court involved in the case of the sinking of the “Villa de Pitanxo”, plans a new extension of the investigation, pending the publication of its report on what happened by the Permanent Commission for the Investigation of Maritime Accidents and Incidents (CIAIM). Judge Ismael Moreno asked them about the possibility of extending the investigation by six months, after having already extended it for another six months last summer (ending next March). In this way, the investigation would be extended until the beginning of September of 2025, if the parties accept this proposal. According to legal sources consulted, the deadline for response ends this week. However, some of the lawyers, and even the prosecutor of the case, have already requested the extension, because the CIAIM report is still missing.

Inspector testified at National Court

On Feb 9 an inspector testified at the National Court and explained that there were life vests for all the crew members aboard the 'Villa de Pitanxo'. The inspector from the Vigo Maritime Captaincy who inspected the ship before it set sail for Newfoundland on its last voyage, assured that the ship fully complied with the required navigability and safety measures. The inspector testified before the Central Court of Instruction number 2 of the National Court.

Conclusions of investigation report became known

Last week the conclusions of a report prepared by the Permanent Commission for the Investigation of Maritime Accidents and Incidents (CIAIM) became known, based not only on images taken by the 'Ártabro', but also on the statements of the survivors and other information collected. In it, the experts pointed to a human error by the captain Juan Padín as the "most probable cause" of the ship's sinking. Furthermore, they considered the version of the Ghanaian crew member Samuel Kwesi's version, that the 'Villa de Pitanxo' had become hooked the nets at the bottom of the sea and the captain tried to make several maneuvers to solve the problem with the effect that the ship started taking in water until the engine stopped, without listening to the sailors who asked to release the nets, to be "plausible" and saw "inconsistencies" in that of Padín and his nephew Eduardo Ríal, the third survivor, indicating that "the most probable cause" of the engine stopping would be the list of the vessel- Experts also doubted how the second life raft from the vessel was released. Padín always stated that, when he gave the order to abandon the ship, he went to help inflate it, leaving the first officer in charge of it, and then go to release the other raft, on which he got on. However, experts now doubted whether this lifebuoy was unhooked manually or whether it released itself from the 'Villa de Pitanxo' when the ship sank. The raft was found empty and, according to the investigation, it was confirmed that no crew member boarded it. Currently, the investigation also points towards the ship's owner, the Nores Group of Marín (Pontevedra), due to the conditions that the sailors would have on board. Specifically, two men who were part of the crew on previous trips assured the judge that they never carried out fire or evacuation drills and that they hardly had breaks.