MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Six crewmembers of sunken Brazilian fishing boat rescued alive

Searches with helicopters and military vessels are now concentrated in the area known as Coral Island<

Six crewmembers of a fishing boat that sank off the southeastern State of Santa Catarina have been rescued alive, the Brazilian Navy said. The “BP Safadi Seif” with 8 people onboard lost contact with the port authority on Friday night relatively close to the resort town of Garopaba, it was reported.

“The Captaincy of the Ports of Santa Catarina opened a 90-day investigation to determine the causes and responsible for this shipwreck,” said the Navy.

The first five survivors were found Saturday night in a drifting lifeboat, all of them “in good health,” the Navy said in a statement. A sixth fisherman was found on Sunday afternoon and was taken to a hospital with hypothermia.

Navy rescue teams are continuing their search for the two missing fishermen with the support of the Brazilian Air Force (FAB).

The shipwreck took place Friday night, in the midst of an extratropical cyclone that has caused serious devastation throughout the region. The Navy initially said that it occurred 40 kilometers off the coast, but other vessels reported having sighted the trawler that same day some 160 kilometers away.

The “BP Safadi Seif” had issued two messages: one automatic from the national satellite tracking program and the other communicating where they were going to move to fish, rescue teams told local media.

Searches with helicopters and military vessels are now concentrated in the area known as Coral Island.

The coast of southern Brazil has been experiencing strong winds and rain in recent days due to the passage of an extratropical cyclone.