Missing Ecuadorian Fishing Vessels With 20 Crew Safely Found

The Ecuadorian vessel ‘Don Maca’ and six smaller vessels, which were reported missing in late March, were found last week off northern Manabí within Ecuador’s EEZ. All 20 crew members were safe. Authorities have to determine where the boats were located in the missing days, and investigations are still ongoing, officials said.

Six small vessels, led by the mothership ‘Don Maca’, set out on March 18 in the EPO targeting albacore, swordfish, and marlin. Within a week, relatives of the 20 crew members said they lost contact and the last signal of the boats was received near the Galápagos Islands. The small fleet, which had lost all satellite contact in international waters, was finally located, marking the end of one of the most critical search alerts in the Manabí fishing sector so far this year, reported news site El Universo.