Three helicopters have been flying over the southern channel of Menorca and the north of Mallorca since early morning in search of a sailboat that has not been heard of since last Sunday, the day a terrible storm with hurricane-force winds of more than 120 kilometers per hour, swept the islands of Majorca and Menorca in just a few hours.
A 50-year-old German citizen and his 19-year-old son were traveling on the Macan Angie sailboat. They left Cala Galdana, in Menorca at 10:30 in the morning with the intention of heading to Cala d’Or. However, his family called from Germany at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday because they had not heard from the two men again.
Maritime Rescue has resumed the search for the sailboat with these three Maritime Rescue helicopters, another from the Air Force and a third from the Civil Guard. In addition, Maritime Rescue has given notice of this search to the boats that sail in the area so that they can report any possible sightings.
The search for the sailboat began last Sunday after around 6:00 p.m. Salvamento Marítimo received a phone call advising that nothing was known about the sailboat that had started the journey at 10:00 a.m. from Cala Galdana, south of Menorca, bound for Cala d’Or, in the area of ??eastern Mallorca, in a journey of a few hours.
It is a small sailboat, nine meters long, according to the authorities. Shortly after the departure time, an impressive storm arrived in Mallorca that gradually moved to Menorca. The storm caused serious damage on both islands, and also on Eivissa to a lesser extent. The force of the wind broke the moorings of a 143,000-tonne cruise ship that was moored in the port of Palma. The wind dragged it against an oil tanker with the impact.
The airports were closed due to the impossibility of taking off or landing, which caused a hundred cancellations and widespread delays in flights only on Sunday. The airports of Palma and Maó expect to return to normality throughout the day 48 hours after the storm. Thousands of people have had to spend the night in airport facilities due to complications in reaccommodating passengers on other flights.
