As part of the ongoing recovery effort for those crew members still missing from the fishing vessel Argos Georgia, over the weekend MV Pharos SG and one other vessel conducted a search of the datum area. This search unfortunately provided no further results of anyone missing or debris, points out the latest report from the Falkland Islands Government.
Falklands Conservation has published initial views on the Navitas oil company Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and encourages people to comment on the report. This is of course welcome but their statement that essential information on key animal groups is missing, is misleading. It states that ‘the presented seabird data is more than 20 years old’.
The Spanish media have given ample coverage to the return of the six fellow Spaniards who survived the sinking of Argos Georgia in the deep south Atlantic, and have finally been able to join their loved ones after witnessing the tragedy of a shipwreck that took the lives of nine other mariners and four more who remain disappeared.
Argos Froyanes, the company that owned the Argos Georgia released a statement in which it underlines that ”the tragic events of Monday the 22nd of July leading to the loss of thirteen of our Officers and Crew have been well documented and communicated by the Falkland Island Government.
On Friday 26 July the Falklands Maritime Authority reported that in the afternoon of Thursday 25 July 2024, the two fishing vessels, the Falklands Robin M Lee and the Chilean Puerto Toro who were involved in the search and rescue operation of survivors from the Argos Georgia arrived into Stanley.
As anticipated a Spanish air force aircraft landed at Mount Pleasant international airport on Friday evening, close to 19:30 hours following a brief stopover in Montevideo, specially sent to return with the Spanish mariners from the Argos Georgia, alive and deceased.
The long extenuating, overexposed incident and tragedy of longliner Argos Georgia during the week has not been without controversy and as such it was pointed out by the autonomous government of the Falkland Islands, epicenter of the heart breaking situation and recovery operations.
Following the incident involving the Argos Georgia this week, the Falkland Islands government Emotional Wellbeing Service (EWS) would like to reach out to members of the community who may be feeling distressed about what has happened. We have spoken to a number of people from across our community who are feeling very high levels of distress due to the incident. We would like to reassure anyone who is feeling this way that this is a very natural reaction to such a disaster, especially in such a small, close-knit community.
The tragedy of the longliner Argos Georgia plus the loss and disappearance of thirteen mariners, and the survival of fourteen, is headline news in Galicia with the city of Vigo declaring a day of mourning and the Spanish foreign minister announcing that an Air Force aircraft will be flying Friday to the Falkland Islands to pick up Spanish crew members.
At mid morning Thursday, fishing vessels in the port of Montevideo turned their sirens on for a few minutes to the memory of the lost mariners from longliner Argos Georgia, believed to be almost unsinkable given its sturdy complexion and modern technology, which sunk in the middle of a dramatic storm in the deep south Atlantic.