Three seal hunters killed in boat crash

TORONTO (AP) — A disabled fishing trawler getting a tow from a Canadian coast guard vessel slammed into a piece of ice and capsized Saturday in the icy waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, killing three seal hunters and leaving one missing.

The vessel was headed toward a large seal herd in the Cabot Strait between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland as part of the seal hunt season that opened Friday, the largest marine mammal hunt in the world.

Hunters are allowed to take up to 275,000 animals this season.

Sealers and the fisheries department defend the hunt as sustainable, humane and well-managed.