According to Sameiro Matias, the alert was given around 2:45am when the fishing boat, registered in Vila Praia de Âncora, in the municipality of Caminha, district of Viana do Castelo, started "to leak water".

According to the captain of the Viana do Castelo captaincy, the seven crew members were rescued by a boat that was nearby, and the port triggered the lifeboat, having proceeded to the transhipment of the seven men, "who never got to be in the water".

Sameiro Matias said that, of the seven fishermen, only one had to be transported to Viana do Castelo Hospital, "for having hurt his shoulder" during the transshipment operation of the boat that rescued him to the National Maritime Authority.

The captain of the port said that, after the transshipment, the vessel "sank completely, about 32 kilometres from the coast of Viana do Castelo".

Sameiro Matias said that only the investigation of the maritime disaster would determine the causes of the sinking of the vessel.

"Although the vessel was lost everything turned out well, the weather and sea conditions helped the seven crew members to be successfully rescued," he said.

The boat is registered in the port of Vila Praia de Âncora, municipality of Caminha, but had been docked in the port of Viana do Castelo.