Tragedy at Sea

"Our thoughts go out to all the families of this crew [capsized Spanish fishing trawler 50-metre Villa de Pitanxo."

"One of the advantages overnight is you can potentially spot flares or strobe lights. It has allowed us to focus our efforts and centralize our search."

"The visibility has decreased with fog so it is making it a little bit challenging on the water."

"I've seen 10- to 15-metre swells. Five to five-and-a-half [metres] is still a bit of a rough ride, depending on the type of vessel you are in. The Spanish fishing vessels that are assisting in this search are designed for this weather."

Lt.Cmdr. Brian Owens, spokesman, Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, Halifax

Spanish fishing vessel sank on Tuesday off Newfoundland Coast

 

The Spanish port town of Marin in northwestern Galicia is in mourning. Many of its residents make their living fishing in the deep, dangerous waters of the Atlantic. The sinking of the fishing trawler and the confirmed loss of ten fishermen's lives represents the biggest tragedy it has suffered on record. The total crew on the vessel of 24 has not yet been accounted for. 

 

Three survivors were found -- by another Spanish fishing boat that had responded to the first distress signal received after midnight on Tuesday -- rescued from their life raft. Which leaves nine crew whose fate has yet to be officially accounted for as the search continued. 

The area, 460 kilometres east of St.John's, Newfoundland is being conducted largely by the Halifax-based Joint Rescue Coordination Centre. There was some initial question whether the survivors would be brought to St.John's for medical treatment, or shipped directly back to Spain. In the interim they are being cared for by the members of the crew that rescued them. Their condition was unknown. 

Search aircraft over the Atlantic near Newfoundland   The Canadian Press

 

A debris field was located earlier in the day in the North Atlantic. According to Lt.Cmdr. Owens, some life-jackets, fishing equipment, gear and an empty life-raft were discovered floating about at the site. Search teams were faced with dangerous sea conditions; the region experiencing 74-kilometre-per-hour winds and 5.5-metre sea swells. In that area of the North Atlantic conditions can be even fiercer at times.

Three Cormorant helicopters were rotating in and around the area, flying from St.John's to the Hibernia offshore oilfield and then out to the search site. A provincial airlines aircraft and a C130 Hercules out of Greenwood, Nova Scotia were conducting sensor sweeps. "A number" of Spanish fishing ships have been on scene, assisting, and the Canadian Coast Guard vessel Cygnus was en route to the debris site where the Villa de Pitanxo sank at roughly 1 a.m. Eastern Time in rough seas.

 

"This is the end of an active [36-hour] search. All vessels, all aircraft that were participating in this search and rescue have been returned to home base."

"The conditions have been extremely difficult with 10 metre seas, 45-knot winds, and visibility down below three nautical miles."

"It’s been extremely challenging for them to continue that search."

Lt.-Cmdr. Brian Owens

 

"There’s probably between 10 and 15 vessels out there at this time of year, despite the conditions of course."

"Most of these vessels are large bottom trawlers, they are obviously pulling a lot of weight, assuming their nets are fairly full."

"And obviously in very, very rough seas."

 Fred Kingston, executive secretary, Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization

The Long Fearful Search : "Alive And Well"

Katherine Leyton shared a photo on social media of her three-year-old son Jude recovering in a Kingston hospital, one day after he was found in a wooded area in South Frontenac. (Photo courtesy: Twitter/Kat_Leyton)

"The little guy lifted his head and kind of looked at us. We said, 'Listen, buddy. We're the police. We're here to help you. Don't be scared'. And we made sure he was warmed up, we gave him some water ... then got him out of there."

"I'll be honest ... The longer [a search] goes, the less likelihood of a positive outcome. So when it did happen... We were pretty excited."

"With the weather, it being a young child, although he was dressed moderately for the conditions, but, when you're dealing with a young child who is likely scared, the search urgency is very high."

"He was laying down on some grass, on his stomach, just laying down peacefully, [un]til Greg got up to him. When I picked him up, he was warm, he wasn't shivering, but he asked for water. That's about all he said. He wanted water."

"It's rocky [forested terrain], it's up and down, there are trails that lead out there, but for how long he stayed on the trail I don't know. He was found a little ways off a very faint trail."

Ontario Provincial Police Constable Scott McNames

 

"When the officers found Jude, he responded well, he was alert, he was responsive. He was well dressed for the weather. He had a winter jacket on with a heavy wool sweater. He still had his boots on. So he did well for the elements, and so that's one reason he was in such good shape, I believe."

"There was a lot of conversations with the family over the past few days by OPP members. While we were looking at the reality, we were also maintaining hope. [The parents] are absolutely ecstatic. I don't know how you describe that feeling."

"This is absolutely the best-case scenario that we could have hoped for. Lots of smiles, very happy time. The teams, both the OPP and the volunteer search and rescue members, when you work that hard for that long, man, it's a great feeling."

Constable Curtis Dick, OPP

The OPP says Jude Walter Leyton was last seen on Sunday, March 28 in South Frontenac. (Photo courtesy: Ontario Provincial Police)

How long? How long was the three-year-old child, a little boy big for his age, on his own in a heavily wooded forest with a geology common to northern Ontario with exposed limestone, hills, valleys, forest creeks and beaver ponds? Imagine a three-year-old on his own for close to four days. No food, no water, no guidance, no comforting, no direction, no understanding of why his world had so suddenly changed. Wondering where his parents were. Wondering why he was all alone. At three years of age would he understand that he was alone because he had of his own volition as a curious child, wandered off and away, far away from where safety and security was located?

 

Jude Walter Leyton wandered off The Bing Retreat, a fishing resort close to Fermoy, Ontario, some 40 km north of Kingston. It was 11:00 am. on Sunday. Hundreds of searchers since then, were engaged both day and night scouring thick woods around the 200-acre resort in South Frontenac off Canoe Lake Road. It wasn't until 3:20 p.m. the following Wednesday that OPP Constables Scott McNames, Greg Verney, Mike Ball and Peter Wrigglesworth found the child. "You don't see blue in nature like that", Constable McNames later recounted of his having spotted something blue while he was tying a flag to a tree.

Jude Walter Leyton had been lost wince about 11 a.m. Sunday. He was found alive and well on Wednesday. Photo by Handout /OPP

It could have been something that had been discarded and carried off by an animal, by a fierce burst of wind. And it could have been the blue jacket of a small child. The search team ran toward the area where that colour blue was spotted and there they found the missing child who had wandered from his family's fishing resort. Which had led the Ontario Search and Rescue Volunteer Association to take shifts with the searchers from the Ontario Provincial Police in a desperate race against time, the elements and the potential for an accident; barring that a child so deeply hidden in the woods might die of exposure, thirst and hunger.

A recovery marine unit, a canine unit and two helicopters of the OPP were all involved, along with emergency response unit members emanating from all over eastern Ontario. By the time Tuesday arrived, hope for the discovery of the whereabouts of the child became elusive and spirits were dampened. The four men who found Jude Walter Leyton a day later had been tasked to search a grid east of the resort. They found Jude close by a beaver pond where the child was lying on the ground, unmoving.

They gave the child asking for water little sips a a time, waiting intervals for him to ask for more, a child exhausted and bewildered at what had occurred to his young life. He had been found 982 metres' distant from  his family's retreat. The information that he had been found was relayed back to OPP headquarters, and swiftly to the child's parents. Through video connection the parents could see their little boy being carried to safety. According to an OPP spokesperson, there was not a dry eye to be seen at the Orillia headquarters detachment of the OPP.

Jude Walter Leyton, 3, is returned to his family on Wednesday after spending three and a half days lost in the woods of South Frontenac. Supplied photo