At least 26 dead after fishing boat capsizes off Honduran coast

Published On: July 5, 2019 09:28 AM NPT By: Reuters

Coffins for the victims of a lobster-fishing boat accident, which capsized off the Atlantic coast of Honduras during poor weather conditions, according to an armed forces spokesman, are stacked at Hernan Acosta Mejia Air Base in Tegucigalpa, Honduras July 4, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Cabrera

TEGUCIGALPA, July 5: At least 26 people died after a lobster-fishing boat capsized off the Atlantic coast of Honduras during poor weather conditions, an armed forces spokesman said on Wednesday, in one of the country’s worst-ever accidents at sea.

Forty-seven people were rescued after the accident near Puerto Lempira, said Jose Domingo Meza, the armed forces spokesman.

Various boats have gathered off the Honduran coast for lobster-fishing season, which began this month and runs through February.

Another fishing boat capsized earlier in the day in the same region because of the poor weather, but all 49 people onboard were rescued, Meza said.

Honduras lobster exports generated $46 million in 2018, according to official data, and were sent mostly to the United States.