NSRI rescuers have saved the lives of 12 fishermen from a shipwreck on Robben Island in a dramatic midnight ordeal.
|||Cape Town - Daring NSRI rescuers have saved the lives of 12 fishermen from a shipwreck on Robben Island in a dramatic midnight ordeal.
On Tuesday, the dozen men from the 19.6m Hout Bay fishing trawler Claremont were being treated in hospital.
And exhausted NSRI boat crews and rescue swimmers were being lavished with praise for their efforts.
“They did unbelievably well, it was a mammoth effort – swimming, wading and hopping from rock to rock, in foul weather, pouring rain, with huge waves breaking over them – for more than an hour-and-a-half… These guys deserve massive praise,” said the NSRI’s Craig Lambinon.
The NSRI’s Table Bay station commander, Pat van Eyssen, said the distress call came at four minutes after midnight.
“It appears that the vessel lost motor power and they were drifting ashore in stormy seas with five-to-six-metre breaking swells,” he said.
On board were the skipper and owner, Marcelino da Silva, 49, of Tableview, and 11 crew, aged 18 to 52.
Crews from three NSRI stations – Table Bay, Melkbosstrand and Bakoven – launched four vessels, while the WC Government Health Emergency Medical Service set up a joint operations centre.
The skipper told the NSRI by radio that waves were breaking over the vessel and that the vessel was being battered against rocks and was breaking up.
“Efforts to get the crew off from the sea side, with rigid inflatable rescue craft darting in between wave sets under the illumination of white illuminating flares proved fruitless, as waves of between five- and six-metre sets rolled in forcing our craft to abandon the efforts to avoid being capsized or rammed into rocks,” Van Eyssen said.
The crew began to panic, but the NSRI urged them to stay calm.
“The situation intensified when it became clear that the vessel was hard aground on rocks and listing to a 40 degree angle and casualty crew had no choice and they began to abandon ship under their captain’s instruction.
“NSRI rescue crews raced into Murray Bay Harbour and summoned the Robben Island Security who ferried them to the far side of the island.
“At first only one of the casualty crew managed to get to shore and NSRI rescue swimmers waded, swam and jumped from rock to rock, in between crashing waves to reach the ship where four casualty crew members were found perched on a rock. They were helped ashore,” Van Eyssen reported. In relays, all 11 casualty crew were helped ashore, while the skipper remained at his wheel house – exhausted and suffering from hypothermia.
By 4.17am all 12 crew members had been taken to Murray Bay Harbour and were treated for hypothermia and shock, before being hospitalised.
The SA Maritime Safety Authority is monitoring the vessel, which remains wrecked on the island.
Cape Argus