Good Samaritans Rescue 27 From Burning Tuna Seiner Off Galapagos
Last week, with assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard, a good Samaritan vessel rescued 27 crewmembers from a tuna seiner that had caught fire off the Galapagos Islands.
At about 2000 hours on Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard's Southwest District received distress alerts from the fishing vessel Drennec. In addition to an EPIRB alert, the service received a message from a Garmin inReach satellite text-messaging device via the Iridium network. The crewmember with inReach service informed Garmin that the vessel had caught fire at a position about 450 nautical miles southwest of the Galapagos, and all crewmembers aboard had abandoned ship safely into a life raft. Garmin then relayed the message to the Coast Guard.
The high-seas region of the casualty is far beyond the reach of helicopter SAR capabilities, so watchstanders at Southwest District activated the AMVER system to identify nearby vessels that might be able to assist. The boxship Oluf Maersk and the fishing vessel Ricky A agreed to divert from their voyages to assist. The two vessels arrived on scene, and Ricky A recovered all 27 members of the Drennec's crew in good health. Ricky A plans to return them to shore at Guayaquil, according to the Coast Guard.
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“Rescuing 27 crew members within 11 hours of the distress alert in a remote area of the Pacific Ocean is an incredible achievement,” said Doug Samp, the search and rescue mission coordinator for the case. "We sincerely appreciate the response from the Oluf Maersk and Ricky A, who directly contributed to 27 lives saved.”
Drennec is an 80-meter tuna seiner homeported out of Guayaquil, Ecuador. The vessel does not appear to regularly report positioning via AIS, and her pattern of commercial activity is unknown.
