15 crew members rescued from burning vessel off Mossel Bay

A total 15-member crew were successfully rescued off Mossel Bay yesterday afternoon, after the offshore supply vessel they were on caught fire and had to be abandoned, according to the South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa).

Marshall Island

The offshore supply vessel, named the AM Pride and measuring 66.6m long and 16m wide, sailing under the flag of Marshall Island, reportedly caught on fire early yesterday, 48.5 nautical miles south of Mossel Bay, Samsa noted.

At about 10:30 the Maritime Rescue Coordinating Centre (MRCC) at the Samsa Centre for Sea Watch and Response in Cape Town received a call from the Petroleum Oil and Gas Corporation of South Africa (PetroSA), advising that there was a fire aboard the AM Pride. It was close to Petro SA’s FA Platform.

Messroom

PetroSA’s report to the MRCC at the time was that the fire was located in the ship’s messroom and that it was out of control.

Weather conditions were described as ‘poor’ to ‘bad’ as characterised by a south-easterly wind gusting at up to 30 knots per hour, and a swell of between 3.5 and 5m, with a visibility of just seven nautical miles.

The immediate and primary concern was the rescue and evacuation of the 15-member crew onboard, said Samsa.

Assistance

Towards this goal, the MRCC said: “A mayday relay was immediately requested via Telkom Maritime Services for vessels in the area to render assistance. Two vessels identified as in proximity to the casualty vessel, the Angelic Peace and Thunderbird requested to proceed to assist.”

Ultimately, however, a PetroSA helicopter was sent through to assist and was able to retrieve the first group of eight seafarers from a life raft and on to the FA platform.

Crew

According to Samsa, the helicopter next fetched the seven remaining crew member on a life raft. They were then safely flown to George.

They were to be flown to Cape Town today, joining the eight others scheduled to spend the night on the FA platform prior to being transferred to Cape Town this morning.

An emergency towing vessel, the Mkhuseli, from African Marine Solution was to rendezvous with the casualty vessel this morning and retrieve it.