Tag: Coast Guard

The entire crew was rescued An Indian official says that navy and coast guard helicopters and ships have rescued 30 crew members from a sinking merchant ship off Mumbai's coast hours after it sent a distress signal.Indian navy spokesman Capt. Manohar Nambiar told The Associated Press that the MV Rak sent out a distress signal early Thursday morning. The navy and coast guard immediately began rescue operations.The entire crew was rescued. The sailors from Indonesia, Jordan and Romania were taken to the naval base in Mumbai.The vessel was carrying a cargo of coal and was traveling from Indonesia to the western Indian state of Gujarat.Nambiar said the ship was being monitored by the coast guard to estimate the rate at which it was sinking and to check for a possible oil spill.Source: AP

All boat users should know how to use a radio and the correct distress procedures At 09.50pm, Solent Coastguard responded to a mayday call from a vessel called Ribcraft.Solent Coastguard broadcast a mayday relay and two leisure vessels responded that were in the vicinity.Solent Coastguard called out the Lymington Coastguard rescue team and requested the launch of the Yarmouth RNLI lifeboat.The skipper of the mayday vessel on questioning then indicated to Solent Coastguard that they had run out of fuel, they were displaying navigation lights and had lifejackets. They had no means of identifying their position and no anchor onboard so were unable to anchor.The skipper of the ribcraft then confirmed that he did have some spare fuel onboard and that he was able to get back to Lymington Marina under his own power.Alan Waters, Duty Watch Manager, Solent Coastguard said:If you are going to sea, please ensure that you have the correct and necessary equipment to get you out of trouble. In this particular incident, a GPS, an anchor and knowing that you enough fuel to make your trip and return safely to port are all items that should be on your checklist.We would always recommend that all boat ...

The boat had just been towed into the small island of Lampedusa The bodies of 25 migrants were discovered by Italian coastguards as they examined a boat that had just been towed into the small island of Lampedusa. The coastguards found the bodies jammed into the engine room of the overcrowded little boat.While it is believed all 25 died from asphyxiation, public prosecutors from Agrigento in Sicily have opened an inquiry into the exact circumstances of the deaths.Italian media reports claim that some of the 271 survivors offered harrowing accounts of the deaths of the migrants who were reportedly all under 25 years of age, of sub-Saharan extraction. There was one woman in the group."They were screaming to be let out of the engine room but they were just shoved back in again. They were asking for help because they had no oxygen."One of them managed to get out but some men took a hold of him and threw him into the sea where he drowned," an unnamed survivor told reporters.The boat, which set off from Libya three days ago, had been spotted late on Sunday night by Italian coastguards, who subsequently accompanied it into the harbour of Lampedusa, the ...

Against conducting surveys there Japan's coast guard on Sunday warned a Chinese marine research ship sailing near a disputed island chain against conducting surveys there.The ship, named the Beidou, was spotted early Sunday by a coast guard plane some 60 kilometers off Uotsuri, part the islands known as Senkaku by Japan and Diaoyu in Chinese, the Japan coast guard said.The chain, rich in undersea natural resources, is also claimed by Taiwan.It is the first time this year that a Chinese research vessel has been confirmed as having deployed near the Senkaku Islands, the coast guard said.The plane and a coast guard patrol ship issued a warning for the ship not to conduct marine research in Japan's exclusive economic zone without its approval.But the Chinese ship continued sailing without responding, trailing four wire-like objects from its stern, the coastguard said.On July 4, Beijing lodged a formal complaint with Tokyo about Japanese fishing boats plying waters off the island chain in the East China Sea.Beijing and Tokyo have repeatedly quarrelled over disputed maritime territories, and Japan has often voiced concern about China's rising defence spending and increasingly assertive stance as a naval power.Last year, China and Japan locked horns over the same ...

In connection with the detention of a barge with a cargo of iron ore A Coast Guard rear admiral who was suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the detention of a barge with a cargo of iron ore has aired his side on the case.Rear Admiral Edmund C. Tan, the Philippine Coast Guard vice commandant for operations, was suspended for nine months without pay last May 16 by then Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez based on the complaint of Reynaldo S. Chua Jr. of Cebu City that Tan, then a commodore, unlawfully detained the "LCT Kapitan," which was shipping 3,500 metric tons of iron ore from Zamboanga to Manila sometime in 2007.Tan said the Ombudsman made the decision without hearing his side. "Upon receipt of said decision, I immediately filed a motion for reconsideration with the Ombudsman last Feb. 21, 2011, but to my quandary, up to this date the same has not yet been acted upon or resolved by the Ombudsman," he said.In his motion, Tan stated he had the barge held based on the request of one Benito Aratea, who was disputing ownership of the iron ore with Chua.Tan applied for a temporary restraining order (TRO) ...

Operation to trace about 400 fishermen India's coast guard on Saturday launched an operation to trace about 400 fishermen who went missing during monsoon storms in West Bengal, officials said.About 33 fishing boats went missing on Friday in the choppy waters of the Bay of Bengal in eastern India."Our team has been able to establish contact with some fishermen but we are yet to trace 25 trawlers," Iqbal Singh Chauhan, coast guard commander stationed in West Bengal, told AFP.Naval vessels, hovercraft and helicopters have joined the rescue effort but incessant rainfall is hindering the search operation.Chauhan said they had reports that more than 20 fishing boats had anchored at various isolated islands near the Sundarbans mangrove forest 120 kilometres (75 miles) south of Kolkata, capital of West Bengal."Preliminary reports suggest that most of the fishermen are safe but we are yet to establish direct contact with them," he said.During storms in West Bengal, many captains find themselves unable to return to port and take refuge with their boats and crews along the coast.Fishermen's Welfare Association chief Bijan Maity said five of the 33 trawlers had drifted to neighbouring Bangladesh and one had capsized, but there were no casualties.Storms and cyclones ...

Transocean insists the blast did not result from poor upkeep The owner of the oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico last year said Wednesday that a Coast Guard report that faults the company for a poor safety culture and other shortcomings that preceded the disaster is full of errors.Transocean said in a 112-page response submitted to the U.S. government that the April 22 draft report should be corrected. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation and Enforcement is expected to release a joint final report with the Coast Guard by late next month.Switzerland-based Transocean insists the blast did not result from poor upkeep, that the blowout preventer was properly maintained and that the general alarm on the rig did not fail to operate automatically. It also said the engines on the rig did not fail to shut down upon detection of gas."When a report of this importance purports to reach conclusions and makes findings so at odds with the evidence, questions must be raised about the fact-finding process and whether an agenda, rather than evidence, served as the report's foundation," Transocean said in its response.A spokeswoman for the joint federal investigation team declined to comment.Multiple government and ...

Passengers were evacuated and transferred to refugee camp near Tunisia-Libya border Tunisia's coast guard launched Wednesday operations to rescue some 700 would-be immigrants trapped on a fishing boat that stalled off the country's coast, the official TAP news agency said.The boat is believed to have set sail from Libya and was en route to Italy, the report said. Its passengers, which include women and children, are mostly of sub-Saharan African origin.Passengers alerted Tunisian coastal authorities after the boat stalled some 20 miles off the Kerkennah islands in southern Tunisia on Tuesday, TAP said. Because of difficult weather, the rescue operations couldn't begin until Wednesday morning.Passengers were being evacuated aboard inflatable rafts and are to be transferred to the Choucha refugee camp near the Tunisia-Libya border. The camp is providing shelter to sub-Saharan Africans and others who have fled months-long conflict between Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi and rebels.Meanwhile, Italian officials seized a yacht said to have belonged to the family of former Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who was deposed in a popular uprising in January.The 14-meter (45-foot) vessel, the Atlantique 43, was anchored in the port of Italy's southern island of Lampedusa when it was seized by financial ...

Nations which neglect their seas and oceans come to grief Defence Minister A.K. Antony on Saturday cautioned the country's maritime forces against lowering their guard, as nations which had neglected their seas and oceans had come to grief.As the resources of the land were getting depleted, nations were turning to the seas and oceans for sustenance, he pointed out.He was speaking after laying the foundation stone for the Indian Coast Guard Academy (ICGA) being built on 66.36 hectares on the banks of the Valapattanam estuary here.Mr. Antony said the prestigious academy was coming up in a part of the country known for its rich maritime history."For centuries the seas of Malabar were ruled by the fleet of Kunjalis fighting intruders from the West," he said, adding that the country was now facing asymmetric threats from terrorists and other anti-social elements posing a challenge to the unity and integrity of the nation.Stating that coastal security had assumed huge significance and concern for the government, he said there was an urgent need for the country to be vigilant against threats from the seas."The Coast Guard, despite its meagre strength, is discharging its multifarious roles and responsibilities with professional commitment and resolve," Mr. ...

Member of the crew of Velopoula tank The Coast Guard suspended its active search Monday evening for the motor vessel Velopoula tank ship mariner who reportedly fell overboard 135 miles north of Samana, Dominican Republic, Saturday.The decision to suspend a search is very difficult when someone is still missing at sea, said Capt. Ed Pino, commander of Coast Guard Sector San Juan. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the missing mariner during this difficult time.Coast Guard rescue crews launched an aerial and surface search Saturday for the 24-year-old Greek mariner after Coast Guard Watchstanders in Sector San Juan received a satellite communication from the master of the 748-foot Velopoula reporting the incident.The mariner reportedly was last seen at 12 p.m. Saturday and was noticed missing four hours later.Units involved with the search included:Coast Guard Air Station Miami HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft crewsCoast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla., HC-130 Hercules aircraft crewsThe crew of the Coast Guard Ccutter FarallonCoast Guard searches totaled more than 3,600 square-miles, or roughly the size of the island of Puerto Rico.Coast Guard Cutter Farallon is a 110-foot patrol boat home ported in San Juan.Source: Coast GuardNews