The inquests into the deaths of six 6 crew members of the FV Argos Georgia was opened this week in the Falkland Islands Coroners Court, Malcolm Simmons. Those in attendance, both virtually and in person, included Nigel Phillips, Governor of St Helena, (since the vessel flew the Red Ensign of St Helena), representatives for the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Nick Hibberd from the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch, Rosario Bernal, Consul General of Spain in London, and next of kin for crew members.
On Sunday 4th August the Falkland Islands community came together in a moving memorial service for the crew of the lost Argos Georgia. The service was held at the Falkland Islands Defense Force Hall at 14:00 hours.
On Wednesday 31 July 2024, the Falkland Islands Government formally stood down the recovery efforts to locate the missing crew members following the loss of the fishing vessel Argos Georgia. This follows consideration of all circumstances and in line with all international requirements.
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.
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.