“But, where is Francis?”, They continue to ask themselves, seven months after his disappearance, the family, friends and divers who participate in the operation that searches for the 47-year-old fisherman from Tajao, who fell into the sea on June 20, 2021 on the coast of Granadilla de Abona, when he was dragged by a trap that got caught in his leg when he was fishing on the family boat Punta Abona.
The search, silent but constant over more than 200 days, has been “the longest, of a private nature, that has ever been carried out in Spain,” Moisés Pires, professional diver and photographer, coordinator, told DIARIO DE AVISOS. of the search, which stressed that “everything that has been possible has been dived and searches have been repeated in areas already inspected.” Now, the device is about to complete its work. One last try left. “Our idea was to have finished on December 20, that day marked six months of his disappearance and a mass was celebrated for the rest of Francis, but when we saw his mother there… what do you want me to tell you… we decided to continue for a few days more,” Pires said.
That last dive will take place in the next few days – the date has not yet been set – with a Civil Guard patrol boat and a self-propelled underwater camera, provided by Tragsa, which descends to great depths and verifies the points marked by the sonar on board. . “After so much time, we are almost looking for a DNA sample,” said the coordinator of the operation.
Marina García, Francis’s cousin and family spokesperson, told this newspaper that “we have tried everything and the people who have helped us have given themselves to try to find him, we have exhausted the possibilities, that is how fate has wanted it, we must put the final point”, he told this newspaper.
“I find it a little shocking that almost all the people who get lost on the coast appear and in the case of my cousin, with so many means, people and so many hours of searching, not a single piece of his clothing has appeared; I have come to think that Francis has wanted to stay in the sea and that is why we have not found him, ”said Marina. “I cling to that: sometimes I think that he may have wanted to rest in the environment in which he felt so good and that was his life.”
Since the accident occurred, one kilometer from the coast between the port of Granadilla and the Montaña Pelada area, where the depth reaches 100 meters, a device made up of neighbors, fishermen from Tajao, diving clubs and volunteers has been activated. , with walks along the coast, meetings to design search strategies, coordination of logistics for dives and calls to incorporate new human and material resources. A deployment supported by the contributions of donors in an account opened in La Caixa that allowed the hiring of an underwater robot.
During this time, more than 400 dives have been made in groups of six people in a radius of 17 square miles, including a dozen with self-propelled camera and five with side-scan sonar. But the currents, the depth and the winds have turned the search into an impossible mission. “After Francis fell into the water, the current changed to the north two hours later, that’s why we have dived in that direction, but the tracking has reached almost to Los Abrigos from the south; We have also combed shallower areas, in Pelada, as well as the area around Montaña Roja and the La Jaca area”, explained Pires, who has participated in operations such as the Prestige, in Galicia, or Costa Concordia, in Italy, of which this week has been 10 years old.
210 days after Francis’ disappearance, his family insists on thanking “infinitely” the citizen response to try to locate him, “from the people who told friends that a fisherman had disappeared in Tajao and that if they went out to sea that day they would take a look to those who have helped us financially to maintain the means we needed”, reiterated the family spokesperson. “To all of them, our infinite gratitude and the hope that, if fate so wishes, one day we will know something. And if not, may Francis rest eternally.”
