Costa Cruise Ship Rescues Crew From Burning Fish Carrier

On Tuesday night, the cruise ship Costa Luminosa rescued 11 seafarers from a burning fish carrier in the Aegean Sea.

While transiting just off Cape Matapan, Greece on Tuesday, the Turkish fish carrier Kilic 1 suffered an engine room fire. Her crew were not able to bring the blaze under control, and they issued a distress call.

At the time of the call, the Luminosa was under way from the Peloponnese to the port of Katakon, and she was passing the same area. She received a request from the Greek Coast Guard's Piraues rescue coordination center to assist the Kilic 1. 

The Luminosa's master, Captain Pietro Sinisi, answered the call and diverted to the scene. Despite dense smoke coming from the fish carrier and unfavorable surface conditions, including winds of thirty knots and six foot waves, rescue operations were successful. The eleven crewmembers were recovered from the bow of Kilic 1 by a Costa Luminosa tender and then transferred to a good samaritan cargo ship. The survivors are all reportedly in good health. After recovering her tender, the Luminosa resumed her commercial voyage. 

AngelDavid / Twitter

The crew of the Luminosa recover the tender (Michele Jackson / Facebook)

"I just saw firsthand the amazing efforts of the crew working together to provide aid in a time of need," said passenger Michele Jackson in a social media post. "Never have I seen the deployment of a life boat or the effort it takes to coordinate putting it back in place after a rescue."

The Kilic 1 is a 1986-built fish carrier belonging to a large seafood conglomerate. She has no recent PSC inspection record.