Rescue: New SNSM intervention on a drifting fishing vessel

0

On Wednesday, February 9, the SNSM sea rescue station of Saint-Martin was called to rescue a fishing vessel, 9,90m long, adrift for several days.

This fishing boat, which left Guadeloupe, had electrical and engine breakdowns far from the coast, in the Atlantic; it therefore no longer had a VHF, nor a telephone network, and had no means of alerting that it was "unmaneuverable".

The four people on board continued to fish, letting themselves drift and turning on their cell phones every hour to try to pick up a network.

After more than 48 hours, they finally managed to reach their shipowner, who called CROSS-AG (Antilles-Guyana Regional Operational Center for Surveillance and Rescue) to request assistance.

There is no urgency but the fishermen need a tow to the nearest port, which happens to be Saint-Martin since they are then about fifteen miles east of Tintamarre Island.

The CROSS then contacts the SNSM station of Saint-Martin at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday February 9 and, 45 minutes later, a team of 5 volunteers sets sail with the launch SNS 129. After almost 3 hours of navigation towards an erroneous position at the start , because the boat in difficulty and without electronics could not transmit its exact position, the crew of the SNS 129 finally locates the fishing vessel and comes to pass the tow to it.

With the boat in tow, the launch set course at low speed (between 3 and 5 knots) for the Rade de Marigot where they arrived at 18:15 p.m. The boat was brought to safety at anchor, in the Bay of Galisbay, and 2 crew members from the fishing boat got on the SNS 129 to go ashore with them to pick up a mechanic they knew at Sandy-Ground; their wish is to repair their boat as soon as possible to go fishing again immediately.

The speedboat SNS 129 returns to its Fort Louis marina berth at 18:35 p.m., and the volunteer crew can finally return home, after spending more than 7 hours at sea, to help these drift fishermen. in the middle of the ocean.

 7,074 total views

source:

Faxinfo: https://www.faxinfo.fr/

Article sponsored by:


About author

No comments

%d bloggers like this page: