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Seafarer Found Clinging to a Buoy in Melbourne's Harbor

melbourne
Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne (Ian Kluft / CC BY SA 3.0)

Published May 11, 2021 10:41 PM by The Maritime Executive

[Brief] On Sunday, police responders in Melbourne, Australia rescued a seafarer who had jumped over the side of his vessel and was found hanging onto a navigational buoy a few miles off the port. 

The survivor, a 31-year-old Georgian national, was spotted by a Victoria Police search aircraft at about 2000 hours on Sunday night. He was rescued and taken to a hospital for treatment, then placed in COVID-19 quarantine. Officers who came into contact with him will also enter quarantine as a precautionary measure. 

The seafarer is believed to be a crewmember from the tanker Kampur, which is currently at anchor just off Melbourne. The reason for his departure from the vessel is under investigation, and officials from multiple Australian regulatory agencies will board and inspect the ship when it docks on Wednesday. 

In a brief social media statement, the Mission to Seafarers' Victoria branch said that it is "caring for not only the seafarer concerned, but for the whole crew."