Early on Sunday morning, a fire on a fishing boat about 60 nautical miles offshore from Gansbaai, in the Western Cape, forced the crew to abandon ship, Cape {town} Etc reports.
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The South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) verified this on Sunday afternoon.
According to the authority, there were early signs that the 62-year-old MFV Armana was sinking.
The 20 crew members aboard the fishing vessel were forced to abandon it because of a fire, according to later information received by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, which is housed at the Samsa Centre for Sea Watch and Response in Cape Town.
‘Fortunately, all 20 crew members of the vessel have been rescued, are confirmed unharmed, and are on their way back to Cape Town aboard the MFV Ludwani – another of the Sea Harvest Group’s vessels that was in the area at the time of the call. She is estimated to arrive at 20:00 (local time) tonight and will be met by Samsa on arrival,’ said the authority.
It went on to say that the rescued crew’s relatives had been notified, and the firm was keeping them updated.
It said that the MFV Armana was currently floating 57 nautical miles south of Gansbaai and was being watched by the MFV Harvest Saldanha.
Samsa said it had advised the owner to hire a tug to pull the crippled vessel to a safe location and to appoint a salvor.
The Samsa incident management team is in communication with the owners and all other parties involved.
Samsa stated that additional information would be given as soon as it became available.
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Picture: Jude Mack / Unsplash
