News

The 'Libertas-H' suffered a main engine failure in pos. 37 51 18 N, 20 50 00 E off Zakynthos on Nov 25, 2022, at 10.45 a.m. UTC, Nov 25. The port authorities have detained the vessel until repairs by the crew were completed and certified. Due to the inclement weather prevailing in the area, the vessel, after the repairs and certification, may sail from the place assisted by a tug.

A fire broke out in the cabin and galley of the 'Sunfish' on Nov 27, 2022, in the Okhotsk Sea off the western coast of the Kamchatka peninsula. Until Nov 28, the crew managed to extinguish the fire with own means. The trawler was under way to the Khuril Strait to ride out a storm and rendezvous with an SAR ship. There were 104 people on board. The extent of damages was unknown.

Delays by the port authorities in taking action during the five-day window between the start of the fire onboard the 'X-Press Pearl' and the time the crew abandoned it continued to be a matter of debate as the blame-game rages as to who was really to blame for the disaster. The fire was first reported on May 20, 2021, and the remaining crew members abandoned the ship on May 25 as the fire raged out of control in the seas off Colombo.  In the aftermath of the massive disaster, those representing the vessel’s interests have accused the Sri Lankan authorities, particularly the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), of being too slow to react to tackle the unfolding disaster. They claimed the magnitude of the disaster could have been mitigated had the Sri Lankan authorities acted speedily. Even now, questions are being raised as to why MEPA did not instruct the Sri Lanka Navy and the SLPA to move the stricken vessel to international waters or to another location further down the western coast so that it could have been relatively shielded from monsoonal currents once the fire started raging on board. MEPA Chairperson Dharshani Lahandapura, however, claimed that the ship’s owners and local agent underestimated the scale of the fire. She said MEPA had initially instructed the ship’s owners to move the vessel at least 50 nautical miles off the Sri Lankan coast. However, even experts from the Dutch salvage company employed by the ship’s owners initially reported the fire to be under control after boarding the vessel on Nov 23. The fire escalated again in the early hours of May 25, forcing everyone to abandon the vessel. Ms Lahandapura also claimed the post-mortem reports of marine mammals, whose carcasses had washed up in the weeks following the disaster, had been completed and would be produced in court. Meanwhile, the distribution of the third round of compensation for fishermen affected by the shipwrecl is now almost complete, according to fisheries officials. The authorities received Rs. 911 million from the vessel’s insurers as the third round of compensation. The Fisheries Ministry accepted the third interim payment “under objections” as unlike the previous two payments, it was made as a rupee payment-

A passenger who went overboard from the cruise ship 'Carnival Valor' was located by the crew of the 'Crinis' after apparently treading water for a day and rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter 20 miles off Southwest Pass, La., in the night of Nov 24, 2022. The 28-year-old man was reported as missing by the crew of the 'Carnival Valor' to the Coast Guard around 2:30 p.m., triggering a launch of rescue crews by watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector New Orleans. The man was sailing with his sister from New Orleans to Cozumel, Mexico, when he stepped away to use a restroom around 11 p.m. on Nov 23. When she had not heard from her brother the next day, the woman notified the crew around noon that he was missing. A search of the vessel commenced, and the USCG was notified. The Coast Guard deployed an MH-60 Jayhawk aircrew from the New Orleans air station, a 45-foot boat from the Venice station, and an HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft. The 'Carnival Valor' turned around to search along its own track, and an uUMIB was issued for vessels to keep a lookout for the missing passenger. The crew of the 'Crinis', bound for New Orleans, spotted the man in the water and vectored the Coast Guard to the location. The Jayhawk helicopter crew located the passenger and rescued him at 8:25 p.m. After hoisting the man onto the helicopter and transferring him to awaiting emergency medical services at the New Orleans Lakefront Airport, he was reported in stable condition at an area hospital.

Eight Cuban refugees who were adrift on a raft near the Yucatan were rescued by the crew of the 'Hafnia Miakla', en route from Cristobal, on Nov 24, 2022. Six women and two men went adrift after the engine of their boat had collapsed. The tanker crew immediately reported the discovery to SEMAR. They were taken on board and offered medical assistance and food. The ship arrived at the Ferris Pier in Puerto Progreso, on Nov 27, where the migrants were handed over to the INM Representative Office in Yucatan. It was still unknown how long they were adrift and the exact date they left Cuba. The corresponding administrative and migratory procedures were underway, as well as permanent health care for Cuban migrants. The rafters traveled in a rustic homemade boat made of white polyfoam sheets.