The tuna fishing trawler Jorge Seif Junior sank off southern Brazil. The vessel with 24 crew members started getting water ingress and capsized in South Atlantic on 45 nautical miles off Imbituba in Santa Catarina State. The EPIRB of the fishing trawler Jorge Seif Junior was activated and distress signal was sent to the nearby merchant and navy ships. The nearby heavy cargo vessel BBC Citrine was the first, which responded to the distress signal and succeeded to rescue 18 people, but another 6 are still missing. The cargo ship headed to Itaguai to disembark the fishermen, but on the route one of the rescued people died from drowning. The search and rescue operation for the missing 6 fishermen continue, engaging the nearby fishing boats, navy, rescue helicopter and cargo ships. The searches are concentrated in an area of ​​150 sq km.

The local authorities started investigation for the reason for capsizing of the fishing boat. According to preliminary information, the vessel started getting water ingress, lost stability and capsized. The weather in vicinity was bad with 4.5-meter waves and and strong winds, which probably were the root cause of capsizing.

The tuna fishing trawler Jorge Seif Junior is owned and operated by the fishing company JS Pescados. The wooden vessel has overall length of 26.00 m and beam of 6.00 m.