NAT Tankship Rescues 150 in Mediterranean

Nordic American Tankers Limited ("NAT") says the one of its vessels, the 'Nordic Passat' performed a rescue operation, involving 150 people in the Mediterranean last Saturday afternoon, September 27, 2014. Details as follows:

The refugees were in a wooden boat with engine trouble. Nordic Passat was in an area South East of Sicily when it got involved in the rescuing of the refugees and brought them to Augusta in Italy this Monday morning.

The refugees come from Somalia, Eritrea, Bangladesh, Sudan and Palestinians from Syria and Palestinians from Lebanon. There were 14 children, 19 women and 117 men among the refugees who were in relatively good condition and were given food and shelter onboard the ship.

The rescue operation was completed early this morning Monday September 29, 2014 in Italy. Nordic Passat, with a crew of 23 persons on board, is now on its way to load crude oil in Libya.

Commented Herbjørn Hansson, the NAT Chairman & CEO: "The Captain and his crew performed first class seamanship in accordance with the best maritime traditions to save lives in distressed situations. They all deserve a lot of credit. The incident shows that all links in the NAT organization did function very well in this situation".