The Prosecutor's Office sees possible crimes of reckless homicide in the sinking of the 'Villa de Pitanxo'

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The

's Office of the National High Court considers that what happened with the

fishing vessel , sunk on February 15 in the waters of

, could lead to the commission by his employer of crimes of reckless homicide and against the rights of workers.

Twenty-one sailors died - 12 are missing - and only three survived.

This follows from the report presented by the Public Ministry in the court of the National High Court that took charge of the investigation.

The prosecutor informs the judge that, in his opinion, the case should be referred to a court in

.

The reason is that the ship must be considered as Spanish territory, so the events would not have taken place abroad.

The

of the High Court received a statement from the Civil Guard in which one of the survivors, the sailor of Ghanaian origin

, offered a version of the shipwreck very different from that maintained by the captain,

and his nephew,

.

According to the shipping company according to the captain's account, the sinking was caused by a sudden stoppage of the machines when the ship was making a maneuver.

The first version offered by the sailor after escaping to safety was superficial, but in his appearance before the Civil Guard he went into detail and offered a version that questioned the captain's actions.

It also contemplates a crime against the rights of workers

Samuel Kwesi maintained that they were pulling in the loaded nets with strong gusts and big waves and that the boat could not be seen to be able to retrieve the gear.

That the ship was listing little by little and that at a certain point they asked the captain to cut the net.

He didn't want to do it and the ship continued to list.

Finally, the water began to enter and affect the engines, which caused the engine to stop, leaving the ship without control and the definitive sinking.

In his statement, the sailor added that only the captain and his nephew were wearing survival suits when they left the ship.

These suits make it possible to withstand the extreme cold of the

waters .

Regarding the damage suffered by the rescue raft in which they were rescued, he explained that initially the raft was fine, but that the suction effect at the time of sinking caused a hole in the bottom.

Over there, as he explained to the Civil Guard, other sailors slipped by as they died and stopped holding on to something.

It is based on the story of a sailor, different from that of the captain

The captain's action in not meeting the requirements to release the nets could fit into the crime of reckless homicide.

The Prosecutor's Office also contemplates the crime against the rights of workers, due to the security conditions in which the events occurred.

The opinion of the Prosecutor's Office rests on the story of the Ghanaian sailor, which contradicts that of the other two survivors.

A probable diligence would be the elaboration of an expert report that would take into account the technical data of the ship, cargo and meteorological conditions and pronounce on the plausibility of the hypotheses proposed.

As for which court should take over the investigation, after verifying that the facts could be criminal, prosecutor

asks Judge

to refer the case to a court in

, the town where the fishing boat was moored.

The prosecutor's report reviews international jurisprudence and regulations and concludes that

should be considered Spanish territory.

Therefore, the possible crimes committed on board would not be the competence of the National High Court.

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