Experts of the Research Group on Marine Geosciences of the UB find the fishing boat ʻEl Fairellʼ
A team of experts from the Research Group on Marine Geosciences of the UB (GRC Marine Geosciences), led by Professor Miquel Canals, found El Fairell, the fishing boat that sunk on Monday March 20 three nautical miles off the Port de Barcelona (Barcelona harbour) due the alleged collision by the Russian tanker Midvolga 2, an accident that caused the death of two members of the crew.
A team of experts from the Research Group on Marine Geosciences of the UB (GRC Marine Geosciences), led by Professor Miquel Canals, found El Fairell, the fishing boat that sunk on Monday March 20 three nautical miles off the Port de Barcelona (Barcelona harbour) due the alleged collision by the Russian tanker Midvolga 2, an accident that caused the death of two members of the crew.
The team formed by the experts Miquel Canals, David Amblàs and Xavier Rayo, from the Department of Earth Ocean and Dynamics of the Faculty of Earth Sciences, collaborated from the very beginning with all involved institutions, mostly with Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of the Generalitat de Catalunya (DGPAM) in order to find the sunk fishing vessel in the coastal waters of Barcelona as soon as possible.
After the shipwreck, the team of the UB carried out a systematic tracking in the area where the marine accident took place. During the operation, the experts used a high resolution multi-beam sounder -suitable for depths of 170 meters- which the UB has set permanently in the ship Lluerna, used by DGPAM, from the Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food of the Generalitat de Catalunya.
The operation ended with the findings of the remains of El Fairell at 157 meters depth, information published on the following day after the accident. Afterwards, the rescue vessel Clara Campoamor from the Spanish Maritime Safety Agency (Ministry of Public Works) joined the marine operation with a remote control submarine (ROV Comanche), which went underwater until finding the sunken vessel and examine it in order to continue with the search and rescue of the victims.
The intervention of GRC on Marine Geosciences, that created a submarine map of Catalonia edited in July 2004, joins other actions carried out within the field of applied marine research, with numerous works directly related to marine safety, access to harbour areas and internal conditions of these infrastructures, as well as the protection of the marine environment.