Three people are confirmed dead while two others have gone missing after a rescue boat capsized off South Africa’s Western Cape province on Wednesday, September 30.
The rescue boat had been launched from Umkhuseli, a rescue tug operated by local company AMSOL, while near an offshore platform some 47 nautical miles south of Mossel Bay. The active search was concluded on Thursday, October 1.
The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) said preliminary information suggested that a crewmember on the tug fell into the water while carrying out duties on deck.
Four crewmembers set out aboard a fast rescue boat from Umkhuseli to recover the individual. The boat later overturned, leaving all five seafarers in the water.
Three bodies were later recovered while the two other individuals have not yet been found.
The Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Cape Town deployed maritime and aviation assets for the search and rescue effort. Vessels nearby were meanwhile redirected to assist, while support has been provided by the National Sea Rescue Institute and South African Police Service water wing and helicopter crews.
The search was suspended overnight and resumed at first light on Thursday before being suspended again later that day following SAMSA’s review of conditions.
“Following a comprehensive assessment of the search and rescue operation and consideration of all available information, the active search and rescue was concluded,” SAMSA said.
AMSOL’s tug Inkanyezi joined the search and remained in the area to continue monitoring, local news outlet Knysna-Plett Herald reported.
AMSOL confirmed that all five seafarers involved were its employees. The company said it had launched an internal investigation and that an external investigation involving SAMSA and the Department of Transport had also begun.
SAMSA meanwhile initiated a separate preliminary enquiry.
AMSOL Chief Executive Dan Ngakane said that the company, “has been in direct contact with the families of all five affected seafarers...and are providing them with support and regular updates as confirmed information becomes available.”
