On March 26, 202, the Spanish f/v 'Faro de Guía' reported on VHF channel 16, that it had suffered an engine failure and was adrift northwest of the Santander Lighthouse with two crew members on board and requested assistance. The CCS Santander of Salvamento Marítimo mobilized the 'Salvamar Deneb', which took the ship in tow and safely pulled it to the fishing port of Santander.
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PACIFIC EXPLORER
The 'Pacific Explorer' assisted in a major SAR operation east of Port Lincoln after one man was found dead, two were still missing and two others were found after a fishing boat capsized off the South Australian coast. Five people set off in a fishing vessel from the port opn March 25, 2024, at about 8.30 p.m. The alarm was raised when they failed to return. Police found the upturned vessel on March 26 at around 2 a.m. near Spilsby Island in Spencer Gulf. One man and one youth were located on a reef and winched to safety. They were taken to hospital where they are being treated. A deceased person was located in the water in the same location and transported back to Port Lincoln by the State Emergency Service. The 'Pacific Explorer', water police, local sea rescue and an Australian Search and Rescue aircraft were all helping in the search for the remainder of the crew east of Port Lincoln. The 'Pacific Explorer' had 2400 passengers on board on a three-night voyage calling at Port Lincoln and Kangaroo Island. The ship was due to arrive in Port Lincoln in the morning but that has been delayed as the search continued.
DALI
The rescue workers have stopped searching for six missing people after the allision of the 'Dali' with the Francis-Scott-Key-Bridge in the evening of March 26. The US Coast Guard announced in the evening that it was ceasing the active search for survivors. Given the water temperature, it was no longer expected that anyone would be found alive after so many hours. The Coast Guarddid not want to risk the health of rescue forces because of the dangerous currents and debris in the water. After the accident, police and rescue forces had searched for several missing people from the air and in the water for many hours. Divers and infrared and sonar technology were also used. The six missing people were part of a construction crew of Brawner Builders that was tasked with filling potholes on the bridge on the night of the accident. Two of them were Guatemalan citizens. The employees were working in the middle of the bridge when it collapsed. The missing people were just taking a break and some were sitting in their trucks The container ship had left the port with tug assistance and was then heading outward with a speed of about eight knots, when it suffered a blackout and slowly veered off course. The pilot then did everything he could have done to both slow the ship and prevent it from drifting to the right towards the bridge. The pilot quickly gave a series of orders, calling for a hard rudder to port sode and for an anchor to be dropped. The vessel's lights were going off and on again, likely due to an emergency generator activating after the initial blackout, but the ship's engines never restarted. The 'Dali' was without engine power when it hit the bridge. As a result of the momentary loss of power, it was unable to maintain the desired course. The attempts to reduce speed in the last moment were in vain, so that the ship continued to divert to starboard side due to the rudder position and the loss of manoeverability. It issued a distress call which prevented the worst as the bridge could be barred for traffic ahead of the collapse, keeping many people from plunging into the depth. However, there was no chance for the construction workes to escape when the 47 year old bridge collapsed into the 16 meters deep water. Video: https://twitter.com/i/status/1772837527478772147
NIEUW AMSTERDAM
Authorities from the Netherlands were sent to the Bahamas to investigate the fatal accident on board the 'Nieuw Amsterdam', which left two crew members dead. The ship warranted a response from the Dutch Safety Board (OVV). The incident happened on MArch 22 at about 9:20 a.m. LTat Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas, roughly 80 minutes after the ship was scheduled to arrive at the private island. The Dutch Safety Board is obliged to investigate this accident on the basis of international laws and regulations. With the investigation, the Dutch Safety Board wants to find out what exactly happened and what lessons can be learned from the accident. Both Holland America Line and the OVV confirmed the deaths of the two sailors. The employees killed were the third engineer Joseph Terrado and Wawan Gusnawan.
GEO BARENTS
The Swiss charity group Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) is strongly denying the latest allegations from Italy that the 'Geo Barents' failed to comply with instructions as the organization protested another detainment issue by the Italian Coast Guard. The vessel was ordered held for 20 days after disembarking its latest group of migrants rescued from the Central Mediterranean. The detention of the 'Geo Barents' marks the 20th time that a humanitarian rescue ship has been detained since the enforcement of a new Italian law in early 2023. Italy in 2023 imposed new restrictions on the operations of the rescue vessels, including often ordering them to distant ports for disembarkation and requiring cooperation with the Libyans and others. According to the group, the 'Geo Barents' conducted three rescue missions on March 16 starting with coming across a small fiberglass boat overloaded with 28 people in distress. Shortly after that, they came across a wooden boat loaded with 146 people. Determining the boat was in distress, the 'Geo Barents' began a rescue mission when they reported the so-called Libyan Coast Guard arrived on scene. They contended the Coast Guard patrol vessel tried to stop the rescue, attempted to board one of MSF’s rescue boats, and threatened to arrest and take the people being rescued as well as the MSF staff to Libya. The standoff went on for about two hours, but the vessel was able to rescue the 146 people. Later that night, they found another fiberglass boat with 75 people. The boat had capsized, and 45 people were in the water. The G'eo Barents' saved those people. With 249 survivors aboard, they were ordered by the Italians to sail to Marina Di Carrara, where the people were disembarked and the detention order issued. Italy accused the 'Geo Barents' of failing to comply with instructions issued by the o-called Libyan Coast Guard. The detention said the 'Geo Barents' team endangered the lives of the survivors during the rescue operation. MSF responded by accusing the Italian authorities of systematic collusion with the so-called Libyan Coast Guard. They were calling on the authorities to immediately stop obstructing NGO lifesaving assistance. The group pointed out that it has been active in SAR activities since 2015 working with a total of eight different rescue vessels and rescuing more than 91,000 people.