South Africa Rescues 21 Fishermen from a Burning Fishing Trawler

fishing boat fire rescue — Other fishing boats rushed to the rescue of the crew that had gone overboard (NSRI)

South Africa is reporting one of its most dramatic rescue operations in recent years, saving the lives of 21 fishermen who were forced to abandon ship after their trawler went up in flames Monday evening.

The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) reports that multiple rescue teams were activated after it received a distress mayday call from the crew of the fishing vessel Silver Dorado. The crew said they were preparing to abandon ship as the fire overtook their vessel.

The mayday indicated the vessel was approximately one nautical mile offshore of Noordhoek, Gqeberha, in the Eastern Cape region. The fishing vessel had departed the Port of Port Elizabeth earlier in the day.

Before receiving the mayday alert, NSRI had received a call at 1752 local time on its emergency operations center from an eyewitness who raised the alarm of the burning fishing vessel. A local ski-boat club member, also called NSRI, alerting it to the fire.

Sea Rescue coordinated the effort along with other fishing boats to get the crew from the water (NSRI)

Rescue teams were activated while vessels in the area were instructed to divert to the burning trawler to assist the fishermen, all of whom had abandoned the burning vessel into the sea. Among the first responders was a local fishing vessel, Leguga, which arrived on the scene and launched its own life raft to assist the fishermen who were in the water.

NSRI reports that at least five other fishing vessels that had also intercepted the mayday distress call arrived on the scene, while the Legugu had already managed to recover 12 fishermen from their life raft and from the sea. Three of the arriving fishing vessels managed to rescue the nine remaining fishermen. All the 21 crew of the burning vessel, believed to be South African, were accounted for and said to be safe.

The fishermen on the four fishing vessels were transferred to the NSRI rescue Bay Guardian and were taken to NSRI’s rescue base at the Port of Port Elizabeth, where they were medically assessed.

The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) and the police have initiated investigations into the cause of the fire. NSRI says that it appears that the fire of undetermined cause spread fast after being discovered onboard by the skipper.

“We believe all remaining 20 crew were in bunks resting in preparation for 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,” said NSRI.

Following the dramatic rescue, the owners of the vessel have appointed a salvage and spill response company that is monitoring and attempting to gain access to the burning vessel, but they are being hampered by the dangerous reef and darkness.

With the burning vessel still drifting in the high seas, authorities are warning of navigational hazards and are instructing vessels in the area to proceed with caution.