Search teams and a commercial tanker have rescued six asylum seekers from a ship that capsized in the Atlantic in strong winds and 10-meter (30-feet) high waves, Canadian officials said Wednesday , - AFP reported.
The Canadian Coast Guard, a helicopter and two planes were dispatched for the rescue, after the SV Tabasco 2, "ran into mechanical difficulties and heavy seas" on Monday and Tuesday some 150 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Canadian shores late Monday.
Three men were hoisted from the stricken boat in 70-kilometer (44 mile) per hour winds by helicopter and taken to a hospital in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia hospital, where one of them was pronounced dead.
Officials said that three others were lost at sea, while another one rescued from the crippled vessel off the coast of Cape Sable Island later was pronounced dead in hospital.
Officials said three other men were rescued early Tuesday by a nearby tanker, FSL Hamburg, which was en route from New York to Saint John, New Brunswick.
The search for more survivors was called off late Tuesday with three men still missing at sea.
The nationalities of each of the nine were not disclosed, but Canadian media said they were from Russia, Ukraine and Georgia.
