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This undated photo, provided by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery and Food, shows the Spanish ’Villa de Pitanxo’ fishing boat. (Via AP)

At least four fishermen died and another 17 were missing after a Spanish trawler sank in rough waters off eastern Canada on Tuesday, Spanish and Canadian officials said.

Rescuers managed to save three crew members after the boat went down some 250 nautical miles east of Newfoundland, Canada’s Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre (JRCC) said.

Spain’s transport ministry said there were 24 crew members on board the vessel at the time, updating an earlier figure of 22. It identified them as 16 Spanish nationals, five Peruvians and three from Ghana.

The Villa de Pitanxo, a 50-metre (165-foot) fishing vessel which is based in Spain’s northwestern Galicia region, sent out two distress calls which were received at 5:24 am (0424 GMT) in Madrid, a ministry statement said.

Hours later, another Spanish fishing vessel that was in the area spotted two life rafts, one of which was carrying three survivors and several bodies, it said.

"In one, there were just three survivors who were in a state of hypothermic shock because the temperature of the water is horrible, very low," Maica Larriba, a representative of Spain’s central government in the Galicia region, told public radio.

She said the survivors had been airlifted to safety by a Canadian coastguard helicopter and that rescuers had found two other life rafts that were "totally empty" while searching for a third.

Canadian rescuers said they were hopeful more survivors could be found.

"The fact that we have already found three survivors in a life raft gives us that hope that others were able to either get into their survival suits, get into life rafts and get off the vessel," Brian Owens of the JRCC told AFP.

Canadian rescuers had deployed a helicopter, a military plane, a coastguard ship and several boats to search for the missing crew members, he said.

"The weather right now is challenging for the search. It’s approximately four-metre (13 foot) waves and visibility is down to approximately one quarter nautical mile," he said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the boat to founder.

’Saddest Day For Galician Fishing’

"We certainly could be talking about one of the saddest days for Galician fishing in its entire history," Javier Touza, head of the Shipowner’s Cooperative in the northwestern Spanish city of Vigo told public radio.

The Villa de Pitanxo is a freezer trawler registered in 2004 that is based in Marin, a small port near Pontevedra, and belongs to shipowner Manuel Nores.

Founded in 1950, the firm has eight freezer trawlers and some 300 employees with vessels operating off the Canadian coast, in the South Atlantic and off the western coast of Africa, according to its website.

"We are following with concern the search and rescue operation for the crew of the Galician ship that sunk in the waters of Newfoundland," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tweeted.

"All my love to their families. The government remains in constant contact with rescue services," he added.

Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz, who is from Galicia, said she was "shocked" by the news of the accident.

"Bad news is reaching us from the other side of the Atlantic," she tweeted.

"All my love and support to the families of the crew in their pain at this time of uncertainty."

Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz, who is from Galicia, said she was "shocked" by the news of the accident.

"Bad news is reaching us from the other side of the Atlantic," she tweeted.

"All my love and support to the families of the crew in their pain at this time of uncertainty."

(Source: AFP)