One fisherman’s body found, three others missing off Newfoundland coast

By The Canadian PressTue., May 26, 2020timer2 min. readST. LAWRENCE, N.L.—A second body has been found in the search for four fishermen who went missing off the south coast of Newfoundland.The Canadian Coast Guard says the first body was recovered at the western end of the mouth of Placentia Bay, almost 40 kilometres from the coast.Mark Gould, regional supervisor for search and rescue at the Maritime rescue sub-centre in St. John’s, says it appears the 12-metre fishing vessel sank, though the exact circumstances remained unclear.He said a few pieces of the boat and the first man’s body were located early this morning.The centre confirmed in the afternoon that a second body had been found.A search was continuing under good weather conditions for the other two men from the vessel out of St. Lawrence, N.L.“It’s sad so far, and our thoughts are with the family of the person we’ve found,” Gould said after the first body was recovered.“After finding what we found, we knew something catastrophic happened.”The spokesman said it appears the small vessel didn’t have an emergency position-indicating radio beacon, or EPIRG, and the search and rescue centre hadn’t received any signal from the boat.The four men went missing after leaving from St. Lawrence early Monday to fish for crab.They had been scheduled back at 8 p.m. but did not arrive, and a search was started after a person called in a report that the vessel hadn’t returned on time.St. Lawrence Mayor Paul Pike described a sombre mood in the community of approximately 1,200 people that woke up to the shocking news.“There’s a lot of emotion around town,” Pike said by phone. “People are just wondering and waiting and hoping that something will happen here that will give some good news to the community.”Get more of what matters in your inboxStart your morning with everything you need to know, and nothing you don’t. Sign up for First Up, the Star’s new daily email newsletter.Sign Up NowA Cormorant helicopter, a Hercules search and rescue aircraft, an Oceanex vessel, members of the coast guard auxiliary and several coast guard vessels were involved in the search on Tuesday morning.“We’ll keep going until we’ve exhausted all possibilities,” said Gould, adding that all on board the 12-metre vessel were from the St. Lawrence area.
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