Today marks exactly 7 days since the fishing vessel with Captain Hristo Spasov, his son, and another colleague on board disappeared from the radar.
The fishermen from the missing ship near Maslen Nos had set out to catch sharks
Last Thursday, volunteer divers and fishermen with a boat found a significant amount of diesel fuel in the area of the incident and gave directions to the institutions where to check for the vessel. On Friday, the ship was located – at a depth of about 40 m – and underwater inspections began, NOVA reports.
However, so far, Captain Hristo Spasov's family has no specific information about what has been found and whether there are traces of their relatives.
Where did it disappear? Third day without a trace of the fishing vessel, sought after in the Southern Black Sea
The captain's daughter suspects that the crew was unable to save themselves, as the life raft is on the ship. “I want to ask specific questions to the institutions and give publicity to the case. Is there an official who coordinates the whole process? If there is one, who keeps in touch with us, the relatives, to inform us what is happening with the search for the crew? We learn from social networks and the media how far they have come. However, no one contacted us,” said Silvia Spasova.
She and her relatives have tried to gather information from different places. “The whole ignorance and lack of contact with us left us with the feeling that not enough is being done, nor is it acting quickly. Officially, I know that all ships are monitored in real time, so from the first moment it was known when it disappeared. Why did a signal have to be sent to determine that there was a problem? That's over 2 hours of lost time. Don't we have readiness for rescue in winter? And why was the search stopped if it is not proven whether the raft is in place? Why is there no active search until it is proven that there is no chance for the people to have survived?”, Silvia asked.
According to her, she herself called the Bulgarian ambassador to Turkey after learning that there was a possibility that her father was in Turkish waters. And the diplomat took immediate measures to search for the fishermen. “The speed with which the actions were taking place is puzzling. As soon as the ship disappears from the radar, a search by air should have started immediately. Let's use this terrible case to take measures for more timely actions in such cases with missing fishermen,” said Captain Spasov's daughter. And called for the creation of a working group to help speed up the search for crews and distressed ships.