Fishermen escape burning vessel in dramatic sea rescue

An SOS call saw 21 fishermen rescued from a trawler that was ablaze offshore of Noordhoek, Gqeberha, on Monday night.

Mark Dawson, National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) Gqeberha station commander, said a call came from a member of the public at 5.52pm via the 112 national emergency number.

As the NSRI activated its crews, Telkom maritime radio services and vessels at sea in the area at the time intercepted a mayday distress call from the local fishing vessel Silver Dorado reporting a fire onboard and all her 21 crew preparing to abandon the vessel.

Telkom maritime radio services broadcast an all ships alert for vessels in the area to divert to assist those jumping off the burning ship.

A local fishing vessel, Leguga, arriving on the scene, launched their own life-raft to assist fishermen casualties who were in the water near to their burning fishing vessel.

At least another five fishing vessels, who had received the distress calls, arrived at 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 vessels Raka and Maverick each rescued four fishermenand the fishing vessel Vulcan rescued one fisherman.

Dawson said the skipper of the trawler had discovered the fire onboard. They had left the port earlier the same day and the crew were in bunks resting in preparation of reaching fishing grounds.

The fire spread so fast 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 radio call.

NSRI rescue craft arrived at the scene and transferred the crew from the private fishing vessels to its rescue base.

The rescued crew, all South Africans, were checked by paramedics. They required no medical care.

The cause of the fire will be investigated by the South African Maritime Safety Authority and by police.

The trawler has drifted towards a reef close to Cape Recife.

The owners have appointed a salvage and spill response company.

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