A Spanish-flagged fishing vessel caught fire and eventually capsized and sank, forcing its entire crew to abandon ship, in the South Pacific Ocean off the northern coast of Chile on Monday, March 17.
The incident involving the longliner Pico Tresmares occurred in the early morning of Monday when a blaze ignited in its engine room while it was some 860 nautical miles off the city of La Serena.
The crew attempted to extinguish the fire but were ultimately unsuccessful. They were then forced to abandon ship into liferafts.
Another fishing vessel subsequently arrived at the scene and safely pulled all 19 of Pico Tresmares' crew from the sea without injury even as the area was experiencing bad weather.
The survivors have since been transferred to another vessel owned by the same company that owns Pico Tresmares.
The longliner had sailed out of Vacamonte, Chile, on February 23 and was engaged in fishing activities when the incident occurred.