Rescue Coordination Center News

A Panamanian-flagged vehicle carrier vessel rescued three sailors from a Russian yacht that was mauled by sharks in the Coral Sea. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said it coordinated the rescue after the Russian-registered Tion activated its emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) at 1:30 a.m. (AEST) on Wednesday.The distressed vessel, a 9-meter inflatable catamaran with three people on board, including two Russian and one French citizen, was sailing…

A Singapore-registered containership that lost power and steering in heavy seas off the west coast of New Zealand has been towed to safety.The 5,100 TEU capacity Shiling requested assistance from Maritime New Zealand at around 8:30 a.m. local time Friday, after losing main propulsion while en route from Auckland to Wellington.The 294-meter-long containership started rolling severely after drifting into heavy swells about 22 nautical miles northwest of Farewell Spit and issued a mayday call at 11 a.m.

Five mariners were rescued by the crew of a U.K. Royal Navy patrol ship after their tug started to sink in rough seas last week in the Caribbean.The oceangoing tug began taking on water after suffering an engine failure some 20 miles west of Sint Maarten. The vessel's crew sent out a distress call around 1 p.m. on Friday and took refuge on the large sand barge their vessel had been towing.Patrol ship HMS Medway, the Royal Navy’s permanent presence in the region, was slightly more than a dozen miles away and promptly responded to the Mayday call.

The Dutch offshore installation firm Van Oord said Thursday that its Nexus cable layer had this week rescued 49 refugees in the Mediterranean Sea. "The cable-laying vessel was contacted by the Malta Rescue Coordination Center to give support, in the worsening weather conditions of the night of 16-17 November," Van Oord said."It is unknown for how many days the refugees - all men - were on a sea journey. Their origin is also unknown, due to language barriers. All 49 refugees appear to be in good health but weakened, and some were hypothermic.

At least 71 people died when the migrant boat they were aboard sank off the Syrian coast after sailing from Lebanon earlier this week, the Lebanese transport minister said, as search operations continued on Friday.It marks the deadliest such voyage yet from Lebanon, where mounting economic desperation has led many to board often rickety and overcrowded boats in the hope of reaching Europe.Syrian authorities began finding bodies off the coast of Tartus on Thursday afternoon. The Syrian transport ministry has cited survivors saying the boat left from Lebanon's northern Minyeh region on Tuesday with between 120 and 150 people onboard, bound for Europe.

Canadian rescue officials on Wednesday suspended the search for 11 missing crew members from a Spanish trawler that sank the previous day in rough seas off the coast of Newfoundland, killing at least 10 people.Three surviving sailors from the trawler, suffering from severe hypothermia, were plucked from a life raft early on Tuesday. It was not immediately clear what sank the trawler Villa de Pitanxo.Bad weather complicated the search efforts, which went on for some 36 hours and involved a plane, two helicopters, rescue ships and one Spanish and two Portuguese trawlers.At 4 p.m.

Sea rescue services from the Canadian city of Halifax found and recovered 10 bodies from a Spanish fishing trawler that sank in rough sea off the eastern coast of Canada, the services said late on Tuesday, though 11 of the crew are still missing.“Regrettably, Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) Halifax can confirm that an additional three deceased individuals have been recovered from the sunken fishing vessel,” the center said on its Twitter account. Earlier, it announced the recovery of seven bodies.Three surviving sailors from the trawler…

At least seven crew from a Spanish trawler have died and three were plucked from a life raft after their ship sank off the Canadian coast on Tuesday, an official said, as rescuers searched for more survivors in the bitterly cold Atlantic waters.The vessel, the Villa de Pitanxo, with a crew of 24 comprising 16 Spaniards, five Peruvians and three Ghanaians, launched a distress beacon at 0424 GMT, Spain's fisheries ministry said.It sank around 450 km (280 miles) east-southeast of Newfoundland, the ministry said."Seven people have been found dead," said Alberto Nunez Feijoo, the leader of Spain's Galicia region where the vessel and several of its crew were from."There were two Galician fishing boats in the area…

German rescue charity Sea-Eye said on Thursday it had asked Italy for a safe port to disembark some 800 migrants it rescued from boats in distress in the central Mediterranean.The charity vessel SEA-EYE 4 Took onboard another 400 people from a wooden boat on Wednesday night in a seventh rescue operation since it set sail in mid-October, bringing the total to around 800, Sea-Eye said in a statement.It said Rise Above, another rescue ship operated by NGO Mission Lifeline, reached the split-level wooden boat first…

A Dutch cargo ship that was abandoned at sea during a storm off the coast of Norway this week has been attached to two large tugboats and is no longer at risk of running aground, local officials said late on Wednesday.The Eemslift Hendrika, badly listing after parts of its cargo shifted in the rough weather, had been adrift since Monday, leading to fears it would spill some or all of the 350 tonnes of heavy oil and 50 tonnes of diesel in its tanks.The Norwegian Coastal Administration…

An ailing crewmember was medevaced from an oil tanker off the coast of Bermuda on Friday.Rescue Coordination Center Bermuda notified watchstanders at the U.S. Coast Guard’s Fifth District command center in Portsmouth of an ill crewmember aboard the Malta-flagged tanker Antonis last Wednesday at approximately 1 p.m.The Coast Guard coordinated the rendezvous of two nearby commercial vessels to deliver needed medical supplies through the Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue…

Thirty-one fisherman have been rescued from a fishing vessel that caught fire and began to sink off the coast of Eastern Canada.At 7:05 p.m., Tuesday, the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Halifax notified watchstanders at the U.S. Coast Guard First District Command Center that the 143-foot Atlantic Destiny was disabled with a fire on board, and was taking on water in 26-foot seas and 35-mile-per-hour winds.A U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod HC-144 Ocean Sentry fixed-wing crew…

An injured mariner was medevaced from a containership off the coast of Hawaii on Wednesday.At 4 a.m., Saturday, the captain of the 984-foot Adonis notified Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) Honolulu watchstanders that a 43-year-old crew member on board suffered a hand injury. A U.S. Coast Guard duty flight surgeon was consulted and recommended a medevac based on the concern that the mariner’s injury could worsen if left untreated.Due to the vessel’s size and safety concerns for a small-boat transfer, the Malta-flagged containership’s crew was instructed to set course for Oahu where Coast Guard crews would rendezvous upon arrival.Coast Guard crews conducted the medevac nine miles south of Honolulu, on Wednesday.

Satellite communications provider Iridium Communications Inc. announced Tuesday that its Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) service officially went live on Friday, December 11, ending a monopoly held by rival Inmarsat and enhancing the integrity of global safety communications for seafarers globally.GMDSS is an internationally regulated service, governed by the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention. It provides life-saving assistance to seafarers in distress and has required equipment on board more than 60…

A bulk carrier rescued two people from a sailboat disabled by rough weather approximately 345 miles east of Hatteras Inlet, N.C., Saturday, the U.S. Coast Guard said.Watchstanders at the Coast Guard’s 5th District Command Center received notification from the International Emergency Rescue Coordination Center at approximately 9:30 a.m. that a GPS alert had been received from a vessel in distress. The alert also stated that the vessel was experiencing severe weather and that both…

An ailing seafarer was medevaced from a 650-foot car carrier vessel, 100 miles northwest of Honolulu, Friday, the U.S. Coast Guard said.At 9 p.m., Thursday, the Cayman Islands-flagged Brilliant Ace notified Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) watchstanders in Honolulu that a 50-year-old crewmember on board appeared to be suffering from his medications not working.Duty flight surgeons from the Coast Guard were consulted and recommended a medevac based on the concern that the mariner’s condition could rapidly deteriorate if left untreated.

A Gibralter-flagged car carrier rescued three Canadian mariners from their disabled sailing vessel in heavy seas of the North Atlantic Ocean on Saturday.Watchstanders at the U.S. Coast Guard's 5th District Command Center received notification from the Bermuda Rescue Coordination Center that a personal locator beacon was activated, watchstanders then determined the location of the three boaters in distress aboard the Esmeralda approximately 140 miles northeast of Bermuda.The captain of the sailing vessel informed the Bermuda Rescue Coordination Center that he had activated his emergency position indicating radio beacon after his concern…

Sri Lanka has allowed a fire-hit supertanker to sail to the United Arab Emirates, where its oil cargo would be transferred to another ship for further supplies to Indian Oil Corp, officials said.The approval for the ship to leave Sri Lankan waters has been given by the maritime rescue coordination center and it is likely to sail towards the UAE, Captain Indika De Silva said."Two navy ships are shadowing the tanker until it leaves Sri Lanka's 200 mile exclusive economic zone," De Silva added.In early September, the New Diamond caught fire after a blast in its engine room.

The crew aboard a U.S.-flagged containership rescued three sailors from a 50-foot trimaran that became disabled in the Pacific Ocean, about 825 miles northeast of Oahu, last week.At 8 a.m., last Tuesday, U.S. Coast Guard watchstanders at Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) Honolulu received a report from a friend of the trimaran’s master stating the vessel, Third Try, had not made contact since Monday. The three mariners aboard were attempting a nonstop circumnavigation of the globe, and their last known position was between California and Hawaii.Watchstanders issued a SafetyNET broadcast notifying merchant vessels in the region…

Twelve crew members were rescued Wednesday from a cargo ship ablaze off the coast of Italy.At about 7 a.m. local time, the Reggio Calabria port authority received a mayday call reporting an uncontrollable fire in the engine room aboard Bolivian-flagged freighter Bellatrix, in the Mediterranean Sea, about 180 miles southeast from Catania, Italy's Coast Guard said. The Coast Guard assumed coordination of the rescue effort and arranged for multiple air and surface assets to be sent to the scene.

The U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Air Force and regional partners are searching for the master of a Panamanian-flagged bulk carrier who has gone missing about 174 miles northwest of Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia.At 5:44 p.m., Tuesday, JRSC Guam watchstanders received a report from Rescue Coordination Center Australia watchstanders stating they received a call from the first mate of the 751-foot Rising Wind reporting the vessel’s 47-year-old master was missing. The master was last seen in his cabin…

The Norwegian authorities on Thursday suspended wider search and rescue operations for two Bulgarian sailors who officials say fell overboard from a cargo ship in the Norwegian Sea, the Bulgarian foreign ministry said.The two-helicopter rescue operation began around 400 kilometers southwest of the town of Bodo in the early afternoon on Thursday, but activities were severely hampered by bad weather - high winds and eight-meter-high waves, the ministry said."According to the Norwegian Joint Rescue Coordination Center, under the current climatic conditions there is no chance for those who have fallen into the water to survive for such a long time," the ministry said in a statement.The crew of the Stara Planina cargo ship consists of 19 people - 18 Bulgarian citizens and one Ukraine citizen.Th

Training for African women working in search and rescue (SAR) operations underwent at the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Rabat, Morocco (13-15 November).Thirteen officials from developing countries and Small Island Developing States took part in the first regional training course of this kind. The participating states were Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Seychelles and South Africa.The course included a practical exercise on a rescue boat and provided a platform to discuss how to improve and enhance the knowledge of African women working in SAR and to provide them with appropriate tools to manage SAR missions.International Maritime Organization (IMO)…