{"id":268319,"date":"2025-10-18T11:04:03","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T09:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/kougaexpress\/german-sailors-found-safe-after-distress-call-off-eastern-cape-shore\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T11:14:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T09:14:25","slug":"german-sailors-found-safe-after-distress-call-off-eastern-cape-shore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/kougaexpress\/german-sailors-found-safe-after-distress-call-off-eastern-cape-shore\/","title":{"rendered":"German sailors found safe after distress call off Eastern Cape shore"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>EAST LONDON<\/strong>\u00a0&#8211; Two German sailors, one with dual American citizenship, who sparked a major search and rescue operation after issuing a distress call have been found safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The incident began in the early hours of Thursday morning when the&nbsp;<em>Katouska<\/em>, whose last port of call was Mauritius, issued a Mayday distress call via VHF marine radio. The crew reported they were taking on water and in distress while sailing between East London and Gqeberha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The sailing yacht and both her crew are offshore of the Port of East London &#8211; they are safe &#8211; they were escorted and assisted by NSRI East London from the deep sea during the afternoon (Friday),&#8221; said Craig Lambinon, NSRI spokesperson. &#8220;Conditions are not favourable for them to come into the harbour at present &#8211; it appears that they have opted to stay offshore overnight and may come into port in the morning.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lambinon confirmed on Saturday that the incident has been handed over to the Ports Authority: &#8220;We are not involved anymore.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Rescue operation launched<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Thursday 16 October, Telkom Maritime Radio Services intercepted a distress call, which was then relayed to NSRI&#8217;s Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) and the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC). According to the Ocean Sailing Association of South Africa (OSASA), the sailors had intended to head towards East London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Initially, the crew managed to stem the water ingress and began rigging sails in an attempt to reach East London Port. NSRI East London launched their rescue craft&nbsp;<em>Spirit of Lotto<\/em>&nbsp;as a precautionary measure to escort the vessel, which was believed to be approximately 20 nautical miles offshore of Kei Mouth in the Eastern Cape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Search operations continued throughout Thursday and into Friday morning but were severely hampered by storm seas with swells reaching up to 8 metres and multiple storm fronts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two German sailors who sparked a major search and rescue operation after issuing a distress call have been found 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