GQEBERHA – A fishing vessel caught fire off Noordhoek, Gqeberha yesterday, 12 January, resulting in the rescue of all 21 crew members by local fishing vessels and the National Sea and Rescue Institution (NSRI).
According to an NSRI statement, the emergency began when their Gqeberha duty crew were activated at 17:52 following reports from an eyewitness who contacted their Emergency Operations Centre via the 112 national emergency number about “a fishing vessel ablaze approximately 1 nautical mile offshore of Noordhoek, Gqeberha.”
The NSRI statement reveals that “NSRI Gqeberha duty controllers, Telkom Maritime Radio Services, and vessels at sea in the area at the time, intercepted a Mayday distress call on VHF marine channel 16 – from the local fishing vessel Silver Dorado – reporting a fire onboard and all of her 21 crew preparing to abandon the vessel.”
The NSRI responded by dispatching “NSRI rescue swimmers and our NSRI rescue vehicle” to Noordhoek and launching rescue craft “Bay Guardian and Rescue 6 Alpha.”
Local fishing vessels arrived first at the scene. According to the NSRI statement, “A local fishing vessel, Legugu, arriving on the scene, launched their own life-raft to assist fishermen casualties who were in the water near to their burning fishing vessel. All 21 fishermen had abandoned the burning vessel into the sea.”
The NSRI reported that “at least another 5 fishing vessels, who had intercepted the Mayday distress call and subsequent relayed Mayday distress calls, arrived on the scene where the fishing vessel Legugu had at that stage managed to recover 12 fishermen from their life-raft and from the sea. The fishing vessel Raka rescued 4 fishermen, the fishing vessel Maverick rescued 4 fishermen, and the fishing vessel Vulcan rescued 1 fisherman.”
The NSRI’s preliminary findings suggest that “a fire from undetermined causes spread fast after being discovered onboard by the skipper. We believe all remaining 20 crew were in bunks resting in preparation to reaching fishing grounds. We believe the skipper alerted his crew and they were forced to abandon ship without having time to launch their own life-raft but the skipper was able to dispatch a Mayday distress VHF radio call.”
Multiple emergency services responded to the incident. “EC Government Health EMS and the SA Police Services were alerted and responded to Noordhoek and responded to the NSRI rescue base at the Port of Port Elizabeth. TNPA (Transnet National Ports Authority) Port of Port Elizabeth Port Control, SAMSA (South African Maritime Safety Authority) and MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre) were alerted.”
The NSRI reported that once their rescue craft arrived on scene, they found “all 21 casualty crew on 4 fishing vessels” and “transferred the casualty crew from the 4 fishing vessels onto NSRI’s rescue craft Bay Guardian. The 21 casualty crew transferred onto the NSRI rescue craft Bay Guardian were transferred in relays by the NSRI rescue craft Rescue 6 Alpha.”
The NSRI confirmed that “all 21 men were brought to the NSRI rescue base – at the Port of Port Elizabeth – they were all medically assessed by EMS paramedics and all casualty crew were confirmed to be not injured and requiring no medical care.”
The burning vessel continued to drift after the rescue. The NSRI stated that “the casualty fishing vessel drifted towards Cape Recife still well ablaze. The NSRI rescue craft Rescue 6 Alpha monitored the fishing vessel – predicting her drift and speed, well ablaze, on behalf of SAMSA.”
The NSRI reported that “SAMSA has informed that the owners have appointed a salvage and spill response company who are monitoring and attempting to gain access to the vessel but are hampered at present by the dangerous reef and darkness – this is in progress.”
“The cause of the casualty fishing vessel fire will be investigated by SAMSA (South African Maritime Safety Authority) and by Police,” the NSRI stated.
The NSRI concluded their statement by noting that “the bystanders who swiftly raised the alarm, the swift response of NSRI, Port Control and Telkom Maritime Radio Services, and the swift efforts of the local fishing vessels that rescued the 21 fishermen, is commended for saving all 21 crew.”
