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Thursday, April 25, 2024
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Search And Rescue News

23 Apr 2024

At Least Five People Drown Trying to Cross English Channel

© pichitstocker / Adobe Stock

At least five people, including a child, died in an attempt to cross the English Channel from France, hours after Britain passed a bill to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda to try to deter the dangerous crossings.The deaths of one child, a woman and three men occurred on an overcrowded small boat carrying around 110 people attempting to cross one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. The French coastguard was still searching for survivors."After becoming initially stranded on the shore, the boat set out to sea again.

21 Apr 2024

Two Japan Navy Helicopters Crash

file photo source: Japan MOD

Two Japanese navy helicopters crashed into the sea during a training exercise, killing at least one of the eight crew members on board, the defence minister said on Sunday.The two SH-60 patrol helicopters were conducting anti-submarine exercises on Saturday night near Torishima in the remote Izu island group, off the southern coast of central Japan.Defense Minister Minoru Kihara told a press conference the cause of the crash is under investigation. The two flight recorders had been discovered in close proximity to each other and the probability was high that the two helicopters had collided…

11 Apr 2024

Nine People Die as Boat Capsizes in Mediterranean

Nine people, including a baby, have died after their boat capsized while trying to cross the Mediterranean in stormy weather, and another 15 people are feared missing, Italy's coast guard said on Thursday.The Italian coast guard said it received a cooperation request from the Maltese search and rescue (SAR) authority after the boat capsized approximately 30 miles (50 km) southeast of the island of Lampedusa on Wednesday .The coast guard said it dispatched its own patrol boat to the scene…

08 Apr 2024

Over 100 Dead After Mozambique Ferry Sinks

© Frank / Adobe Stock

More than 100 people died after a ferry boat sank off the northern coast of Mozambique, President Filipe Nyusi said on Monday, and almost 20 others were still missing.An official from the country's Maritime Transport Institute (INTRASMAR) said the vessel carrying 130 passengers was an overloaded fishing boat and was not licensed to transport people.It was ferrying people from Lunga in Nampula province to Mozambique Island on Sunday, Lourenco Machado, an administrator of INTRASMAR…

08 Apr 2024

At Least 94 Dead in Mozambique After Unlicensed Ferry Boat Capsizes

© pichitstocker / Adobe Stock

At least 94 people died, including children, and 26 are missing after a ferry boat capsized off the northern coast of Mozambique, an official from the country's Maritime Transport Institute (INTRASMAR) said.The vessel was an overloaded fishing boat and was not licensed to transport people, Lourenco Machado, an administrator of INSTRASMAR, said on state television on Monday."On Sunday we registered a maritime incident where at least 94 people died when a barge carrying 130 people capsized.

01 Apr 2024

IMRF Assesses Climate Change Impact on Maritime SAR Operations

(Photo: International Maritime Rescue Federation)

The International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF) released its #FutureSAR Report as part of the organization's ongoing campaign to raise awareness of the impacts and effects of climate change on global maritime search and rescue (SAR) operations.The report marks the completion of the first phase of the IMRF #FutureSAR initiative, which is funded and supported by Lloyd’s Register Foundation. The initiative's purpose is to identify challenges related to climate change for the global maritime SAR industry and provide guidance and best practices for future rescue operations…

27 Mar 2024

Pilot Called for Tugboat Help Before Baltimore Bridge Disaster

Source: US Army Corps of Engineers

The pilot of the container ship that knocked down a highway bridge into Baltimore Harbor had radioed for tugboat help and reported a power loss minutes earlier, federal safety officials said on Wednesday, citing audio from the ship's "black box" data recorder.The head of the National Transportation Safety Board also said that Francis Scott Key Bridge, a traffic artery over the harbor built in 1976, lacked structural engineering redundancies common to newer spans, making it more…

27 Mar 2024

Divers Recover Two Bodies After Baltimore Bridge Collapse

Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies.

Divers on Wednesday recovered the remains of two of the six workers missing since they were tossed into Baltimore Harbor from a highway bridge that collapsed into shipping lanes when a faltering cargo freighter rammed into the structure, officials said on Wednesday.The bodies were pulled from the mouth of the Patapsco River a day after the massive container ship lost power and its ability to maneuver before plowing into a support pylon of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, knocking…

27 Mar 2024

Baltimore Rescuers Lose Hope for More Survivors from Bridge Collapse

Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies

Rescuers have lost hope of finding more survivors of the Baltimore bridge collapse, the coast guard said, as efforts switched on Wednesday to looking for bodies of the missing and more answers to why a container ship smashed into the span.Search divers were expected to return near dawn to the waters surrounding the twisted ruins of the bridge in Baltimore Harbor to search for six workers missing and now presumed dead.The disaster has forced the indefinite closure of the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest on the U.S.

27 Mar 2024

Divers to Search Baltimore Harbor

Search divers were expected to return near dawn on Wednesday to the waters surrounding the twisted ruins of a bridge knocked down in Baltimore Harbor by a faltering cargo ship, leaving six workers missing and presumed dead.The disaster also forced the indefinite closure of the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, and created a traffic quagmire for Baltimore and the surrounding region.As the odds of their survival vanished, the search for the six workers was suspended on Tuesday evening…

26 Mar 2024

Six Presumed Dead After Baltimore Bridge Collapse

Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies.

Six workers were missing and presumed dead from a bridge that collapsed in Baltimore Harbor early on Tuesday after a massive cargo ship crippled by a power loss rammed into the structure, forcing the closure of one of the busiest ports on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.With dive teams facing increasingly treacherous conditions in the darkened, wreckage-strewn waters, active search-and-rescue operations were suspended about 18 hours after the accident, U.S. Coast Guard and Maryland…

26 Mar 2024

Baltimore Bridge Collision Sends Vehicles Tumbling Into Water

Collapsed Key Bridge in Baltimore  (Credit: Screenshot/StreamTime Live)

A container ship smashed into a four-lane bridge in the U.S. port of Baltimore in darkness on Tuesday, causing it to collapse and sending cars and people plunging into the river below.Rescuers pulled out two survivors, one in a "very serious condition," and were searching for more in the Patapsco River after huge spans of the 1.6-mile (2.57 km) Francis Scott Key Bridge crumpled into the water.The ship "lost propulsion" as it was leaving port, and crew on board notified Maryland officials they had lost control of the vessel, ABC News reported, citing an unclassified U.S.

26 Mar 2024

Ship That Collided with Baltimore Bridge Was Chartered by Maersk

(Credit: Screenshot/X)

The Dali container vessel that collided on Tuesday with a bridge in Baltimore was chartered by shipping company Maersk at the time of the accident, the Danish company said in a statement."We are horrified by what has happened in Baltimore, and our thoughts are with all of those affected," Maersk said.The Dali was set to depart Baltimore early on Tuesday and arrive at Colombo on April 22, according to a schedule on Maersk's website.The vessel is owned by Singapore's Grace Ocean Pte and managed by Synergy Marine Group, according to LSEG data.(Reuters - Reporting by Terje Solsvik and Louise Rasmu

26 Mar 2024

LiveStream: Rescuers Search Water for Survivors After Ship Collides with Baltimore Bridge

(Credit: Screenshot/X)

A major bridge collapsed in the U.S. port of Baltimore in the early hours of Tuesday after being struck by a container ship, plunging cars and as many as 20 people into the river below.Rescuers were searching for survivors in the Patapsco Riverafter huge spans of the 1.6-mile (2.57 km) Francis Scott Key Bridge crumpled into the water.As many as 20 people could be in the river along with "numerous vehicles, and possibly a tractor-trailer or a vehicle as large as a tractor-trailer…

15 Mar 2024

Migrant Boat Sinks Off Türkiye, Children Among 22 Dead

© giannis / Adobe Stock

At least 22 people drowned, including seven children, when a rubber boat carrying migrants sank off Turkey's northwest province of Canakkale, the local governor's office said on Friday, adding that search and rescue efforts continued.In a statement, the Canakkale governor's office said that two people had been rescued by the coast guard and two others had survived "by their own means" after the boat capsized.It said a plane, two helicopters, and a total of 18 vessels from the coast guard and other rescue authorities were involved in the search and rescue efforts…

14 Mar 2024

Taiwan and China Launch Rescue Operation After Boat Capsizes Near Sensitive Islands

© alexhitrov / Adobe Stock

Taiwan dispatched coast guard boats on Thursday to join a rescue mission at China's request after a fishing vessel capsized near the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen islands, amid heightened tension in the sensitive Taiwan Strait.China claims democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, over the island's strong objections, and has stepped up military activities near it in recent years, with almost daily incursions into air defence identification zones.Authorities on both sides sent the rescue boats after a Chinese fishing vessel capsized in the early hours, Taiwan's coast guard said in a state

13 Mar 2024

Search Underway for Missing Indonesian Fishing Boat Crew

© Ingo Menhard / Adobe Stock

Rescue teams searched waters in central Indonesia on Wednesday for 24 fishermen missing since their boat sank at the weekend, with hopes kept alive by the discovery a day ago of 11 survivors who had been floating at sea for three days.The boat with 37 crew went down on Saturday near Selayar Island off South Sulawesi province, according to the search and rescue agency, with 11 survivors in life jackets spotted by fishermen only on Tuesday. Two other crew were found dead."We just received the report of the boat sinking from those who survived on Tuesday…

18 Feb 2024

Two Dead in Migrant Rescues off Libya

Source: MSF

More than 80 migrants were saved, but two died and three were missing following two sea rescue operations in the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya, the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity said on Sunday.MSF's vessel Geo Barents picked up over 60 people late on Saturday from a rubber dinghy in distress in international waters off Libya. It also recovered one body, and one of the migrants taken on board died shortly after the rescue.Another 19 people were picked up from a nearby abandoned Tunisian offshore oil platform, MSF said.

19 Nov 2023

Turkish Ship with 12 Crew Missing in Black Sea

© Dolores Harvey / Adobe Stock

A Turkish cargo ship with 12 crew members on board went missing off the country's Black Sea coast amid a storm on Sunday and authorities have been unable to make contact with them since, local authorities said.The captain of the Turkish flagged Kafkametler had reported during the morning that the ship was drifting towards a breakwater off Eregli, in northwest Turkey's Zonguldak province, the provincial governor's office said.The region was hit by powerful storms on Sunday and the statement said the adverse weather prevented air and sea vessels from carrying out searches.Search and rescue teams

30 Dec 2023

Eight Missing After Tanker and Fishing Vessel Collide

© newroadboy / Adobe Stock

A Singapore-flagged tanker, Pearl Kenzo, collided with a Chinese-flagged fishing vessel, Suiyupu on December 26 at about 12:08 am (Singapore Time) near Chengshan Jiao, China. Eight fishing vessel crew are missing.The tanker was on its way to Zhoushan from Penglai, China, when the incident happened, according to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).The China Maritime Safety Administration informed MPA that the fishing vessel had sunk and that the Chinese authorities…

26 Nov 2023

Cargo Ship Sinks Off Greek Island

Source: Hellenic Coast Guard

One person has died and 12 people were missing on Sunday after a cargo ship carrying salt with 14 crew on board sank off the island of Lesbos, the Greek coast guard said.The Comoros-flagged Raptor had departed from El Dekheila port in Egypt and was bound for Istanbul when it reported a mechanical failure and issued a distress call early on Sunday, the coast guard added."One body recovered from the area," a coast guard official told Reuters adding that one person was rescued by helicopter and was taken to the island's hospital.Eight of the crew were Egyptians and the rest were Syrian and Indian

29 Nov 2023

SAR Officer Caleb Halle Receives 2023 IMO Bravery Award

Caleb Halle courtesy of the IMO.

The 2023 IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea has been presented to Caleb Halle, Aviation Survival Technician Second Class (AST2) of the United States Coast Guard (USCG). He was recognized for the outstanding courage, endurance and determination he showed during the rescue of the seven-strong crew of the tugboat Legacy in January 2023.AST2 Halle, based at the Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City, received the award at the annual IMO Awards Ceremony in London. The ceremony…

15 Feb 2024

#SARyouOK? Initiative Launches Best Practice Framework

Source: IMRF

The International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF) has launched its #SARyouOK? Guidance and Best Practice Framework.The #SARyouOK? initiative is supported by the Trinity House DFT Maritime Safety Fund and aims to promote awareness of mental health and wellbeing issues and break down the attached stigma for those working in the maritime search and rescue (SAR) sector.This initiative provides comprehensive guidance on mental health and wellbeing for maritime SAR services. The aim…