The US Coast Guard Cutter ‘Confidence’ rescued on Monday 10 crew members, who were stranded on the disabled cargo ship ‘Alta’ for almost 20 days, approximately 1,380 miles southeast of Bermuda.
The USCG was notified on 30 September that the 250-foot Tanzanian-flagged cargo ship became disabled on 19 September, while en route from Greece to Haiti, and the crew was unable to make repairs.
The crew reported that they had enough food for two days and water for 15 days, and that there were no injuries or immediate medical concerns.
An aircrew on an HC-130 Hercules airplane from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City dropped about a week’s worth of food to the crew on 2 October, helping sustain the men until help could arrive.
We were conducting a law enforcement patrol near Puerto Rico when we were assigned to assist the crew of the motor vessel Alta. We traveled over 1,300 nautical miles to get to the disabled ship ahead of Hurricane Leslie’s forecasted track and brought the 10 crewmembers aboard,
… said Cmdr. Travis Emge, the commanding officer of the Confidence.
The Confidence is taking the 10 men to Puerto Rico and is scheduled to arrive there Friday.
The Coast Guard’s Fifth District command center has been working to coordinate with the ship owner for a commercial tug to tow the vessel to shore.
