Tag: search and rescue operation

The overcrowded ship ran into a sand pile dug by a nearby dredge On Sept. 9, a shipwreck occurred in Shaoyang County, Hunan Province. However, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) controlledmedia refused to report on the tragedy.According to locals and netizens, 63 bodies were found washed up on shore, on the morning of Sept. 10.It was reported that the overcrowded ship ran into a sand pile dug by a nearby dredger. Thus, it is impossible for local officials to escape responsibility.

A worldwide challenge

Pirates set fire attempting to force them out of their confinement NATO's counter piracy flag ship, Italian Ship (ITS) Andrea Doria, rescued the crew of M/V Pacific Express, 180 nautical miles off the coast of Kenya. M/V Pacific Express had reported being under pirate attack on September 20, 2011.ITS Andrea Doria responded to the distress call and closed in on M/V Pacific Express during the night of September 20. After evaluating the situation, the NATO warship assessed that pirates were no longer on board. As heavy smoke was coming out of the M/V, ITS Andrea Doria decided to send a boarding team to evacuate the crew and rescued all 26 crewmembers (25 Filipinos and 1 Ukrainian) who had locked themselves inside the safety zone of the merchant ship.According to the crew, the fire was the result of the pirates' attempts to force them out of their confinement. They also reported hearing gun shots and possibly a RPG being fired during their time in the safety zone. They suffered no injuries and are now being transferred to Mombasa.ITS Andrea Doria has been engaged in Operation "Ocean Shield" to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia under the command of Rear Admiral ...

Four Americans and a Briton who claimed to be on a rescue mission of a pirated ship were detained Mozambique's police briefly detained four Americans and a Briton who claimed to be on a rescue mission of a pirated ship in the Indian ocean, a spokesman said Saturday.The group brought 750 rounds of ammunition for FN 5.5mm rifles, radio transmitters and chargers without the necessary permits into the southern African country through the airport in the northern city of Nampula on Thursday, police spokesman Joao Dina said."They said they were taking the equipment to rescue a ship taken by pirates in Indian waters," Dina told AFP.Police could not say which ship the group was planning to rescue.The leader of the group was identified as 42-year-old US citizen Michael Ferguson.Claiming to work for private marine security group GreySide, the group said they had traveled from the United States to Ethiopia.They entered Mozambique on a flight from Kenya and were planning to travel to Mozambique's northernmost city Pemba, where they would take a small boat to a search ship 12 miles off the coast, said Dina.Police released the men on Friday evening and their equipment was transported to the US embassy in ...

The captain sustained head and neck injuries - other crew members escaped unhurt An Indonesian-registered ship sank after it collided with another ship about eight nautical miles off Pulau Tioman in the South China Sea.Dadi Suyadi, the captain of MT Cendanawati, sustained head and neck injuries in the collision with Cosmic 10.Nineteen other crew members escaped unhurt in the incident on Sunday.Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency eastern region operations director Captain Syd Mohd Fuzi Syd Hasan said the crew was rescued by a passing ship, Lady Anyvisia.Crippling blow: Part of the stricken vesel damaged after it was hit by another in the South China Sea, eight nautical miles from Pulau Tioman on Sunday. "The Royal Malaysian Navy was notified and KD Jarak was sent to investigate."All the crew members were sent to its base in Tanjung Gelang here,'' he said here yesterday.He said initial investigations revealed that the MT Cendanawati, with a consignment of lubricating oil, was on its way to Sumatra from Thailand.The crew said they saw the oncoming Cosmic 10 swerving to the left to avoid their ship. However, Cosmic 10 swerved the wrong way, causing the vessels to collide."Cendanawati was hit in the mid-section of its engine, causing ...

He fell overboard from the Korean-flagged container vessel Mol Explorer The Coast Guard suspended the search Sunday at 8 p.m. for a man who fell overboard from the 936-foot Korean-flagged container vessel Mol Explorer 900 miles southeast of Kodiak Saturday. Two Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak HC-130 Hercules airplane crews searched an area covering more than 1,500 square miles.The Mol Explorer and crew searched the area, but have since continued their voyage to Tokyo."The Coast Guard suspended the search because further searching for the man will not improve the probability of success," said Lt. j. g. Eddie Michno, District 17 search and rescue controller. "Based on the information we received from the vessel the man's functional time in the water of that temperature was about eight hours. This was based on wind and water temperatures only and did not include the six-foot to 10-foot seas encountered throughout the entire search."Coast Guard District 17 watchstanders were notified at about 4:30 p.m. Saturday that a 49-year-old South Korean crewmember on the container ship Mol Explorer was discovered missing at about 2:30 p.m. The man was last seen about 22 hours earlier at dinner.Weather conditions were reported at one mile of visibility, nine-foot ...

Hundreds more feared dead The accident happened in deep sea off mainland Tanzania on 10 September at around 1am.It started sinking in an area plagued with heavy currents in the swirling waters.The ferry, M.V. Spice Islanders, was heavily overloaded with 600 passengers with some refusing to board when it was leaving the mainland port of Dar es.Zanzibar Police Commissioner Mussa Alli Mussa said: "Some 260 passengers have so far been rescued."We have recovered several bodies but I can't give you the exact death toll at the moment because the situation is very volatile."Thousands of people massed on the docks of Stone Town on Zanzibar, an island near Pemba, waiting for news.One man was screaming that he had lost 25 members of his family, including his sisters, his wife and grandsons.Many of them said they were furious the ship had been allowed to leave port so overloaded.Rescuer Suleiman Amis, 32, said: "Many of us got here about 2.30 am this morning."We sent out some boats to search for the survivors, but we did not find them until very, very late."We have friends who we know took that boat and we want to go back out to find them as soon as ...

An overloaded boat capsized of the coast of Zanzibar An overloaded boat capsized of the coast of Zanzibar, killing at least 158 people. 521 people have been rescued.

Hopes of finding more survivors were fading following the capsizing of an overloaded passenger Rescue boats, helicopters and divers searched for any remaining survivors but hopes were fading fast of finding anyone alive in the submerged wreck.Zanzibar has vowed to punish those responsible for the overloading of the MV Spice islander ferry, which had more than 800 people on board. Nearly 200 perished when the vessel sank.Mohamed Aboud Mohamed, Zanzibar minister of state, told a news conference that the death toll was 197, with 619 survivors. The ferry was loaded with over 200 more people than it was licensed to carry."The government will take stern measures against those found responsible for this tragedy, in accordance with the country's laws and regulations," he said. "We will not spare anyone."The accident was the worst maritime disaster in the history of Zanzibar, Tanzania's semi-autonomous archipelago and popular tourist destination.In 1996, a Tanzanian ferry sank on Lake Victoria with as many as 1,000 aboard. Only 114 survived.The government charged the captain and eight officials with the murder of 615 people.The Spice Islander began its voyage in Tanzania's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, where it was loaded with passengers, motor vehicles, bags of food and ...

221 rescued The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) reported on Sunday that 221 passengers and crew were rescued when their interisland ferry ran aground as it neared port in Cebu City in the Visayas.Among those rescued were several ranking government officials as well as Korean and Japanese tourists who were on board the fast craft "Weesam Express 8" on their way from the island province of Bohol to Cebu, said Commander Rolando Punzalan, the chief of the PCG station in Cebu.Punzalan said the ferry left Tagbilaran City in Bohol at 4:30pm on Saturday and was to arrive in Cebu City two hours later at 6:30pm.But 30 minutes before its expected arrival, Punzalan said the PCG received a distress signal from the captain who reported the ferry ran aground near Cebu's neighboring city of Talisay.Among the rescued passengers were Dr. Susana Madarieta, the regional head of the Department of Health; Efren Carreon, the regional chief of the National Economic and Development Authority; and Edward Villarta, the regional head of the National Bureau of Investigation.One of the passengers, who requested anonymity, complained the PCG craft and other vessels arrived late at the scene, resulting in a long delay in the rescue efforts that ...