22 people rescued from Ecuadorian shipwreck

Quito (Equador), June 2 (IANS/EFE) The Ecuadorian navy rescued at least 22 people from a shipwrecked vessel, 29 km from the nation’s coast, television reports said.

The boat sank when some of the planks making up the deck got detached from the vessel, near the Ecuadorian coastal city of Esmeraldas, the Ecuavisa television said Tuesday.

Thirteen people on board the boat, which set out from Tumaco town in Colombia, were Ecuadorian nationals, regional navy commander Alejandro Vela said.

–IANS/EFE