A number of Good Samaritan boat crews successfully rescued all 21 sailors from a fishing vessel that had caught fire off the coast of Gqeberha in South Africa's Eastern Cape province earlier this week.
At 17:52 on Monday, January 12, duty crew at the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) station in Gqeberha were activated following a public member eyewitness reporting to the NSRI's Emergency Operations Centre of a fishing vessel ablaze approximately one nautical mile offshore of Noordhoek, Gqeberha.
NSRI crew were alerted to respond to the NSRI Gqeberha station six rescue base while NSRI shore crew were directed to respond directly to Noordhoek.
At the same time NSRI Gqeberha duty controllers and vessels at sea in the area at the time intercepted a mayday distress call on VHF marine channel 16 from the local trawler Silver Dorado, reporting a fire onboard and all of the 21 crewmembers preparing to abandon the vessel.
A local member of a Noordhoek boat club then also called NSRI alerting to the same information of a fishing vessel appearing to be well alight offshore of Noordhoek.
NSRI Gqeberha dispatched rescue swimmers and our a rescue vehicle to respond to Noordhoek while the NSRI rescue craft Bay Guardian and Rescue 6 Alpha were launched.All 21 fishermen had abandoned the burning vessel into the sea.
A local fishing vessel, identified by the name Leguga, arrived at the scene and launched her own liferaft to assist fishermen casualties who were in the water near the burning Silver Dorado. All 21 fishermen had abandoned the burning vessel into the sea.
At least another five fishing vessels that had intercepted the mayday distress call and subsequent relayed mayday distress calls arrived on the scene where the fishing vessel Leguga had at that stage managed to recover 12 fishermen from their liferaft and from the sea.
The fishing vessel Raka rescued four fishermen, the fishing vessel Maverick rescued four fishermen, and the fishing vessel Vulcan rescued one fisherman.
All 21 crew were brought to the NSRI rescue base at the Port of Port Elizabeth. They were all medically assessed by paramedics and were confirmed to be not injured and requiring no medical care.
Silver Dorado continued to drift towards Cape Recife still well ablaze. The crew of Rescue 6 Alpha monitored the fishing vessel, predicting her drift and speed, on behalf of the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA).
The cause of the casualty fishing vessel fire will be investigated by SAMSA and by local police.
SAMSA said that the boat's owner has appointed a salvage and spill response company that has been monitoring and attempting to gain access to the vessel.
