LONDON   -   Nine crew members were dead and four were missing after their fishing vessel encountered bad weather near the Falkland Islands, east of Argentina, Spanish authorities said Wednesday. Rescuers have now recovered nine bodies and 14 survivors who were “slightly injured”, Spanish authorities said. The Falklands authorities have yet to provide an official toll. Those rescued and the nine people who dead were being taken on two ships to the archipelago’s capital of Stanley, where they were expected to arrive at the end of the day.  “According to the information we have received from the Falklands maritime rescue service, the weather conditions are very unfavourable, with winds of 35 knots and waves of up to eight metres (26 feet) high,” said Pedro Blanco, representative of Spain’s government in the Galicia region, where several of the people on board were originally from.

Of the 27 people on board the Argos Georgia vessel when it sank, 10 were Spanish, eight Russian, five Indonesian, two Uruguayan and two Peruvian. Six of the 10 Spaniards were survivors, Blanco added.