On Friday 1st May 2020, two good samaritan vessels collaborated to rescue two British mariners from a stranded sailing yacht about 520nm off the coast of Bermuda.
In fact, watchstranders at the Fifth U.S. Coast Guard District command center received an emergency call from the Rescue Coordination Center United Kingdom reporting them that a 39-foot sailboat had become disabled off Bermuda due to a broken steering box with two sailors onboard.
Following the situation, the Fifth District immediately acted and enabled the AMVER system to inform vessels in the area and request assistance.
Although the tanker Torm Laura answered the call and diverted to the scene, it was unable to carry out a rescue due to heavy seas and departed.
Eventually, two additional AMVER vessels, tanker Magellan Spirit and the gas carrier Ethane Sapphire arrived to the scene.
The Ethane Sapphire acted as a wind barricade for the Magellan Spirit to launch a small boat and safely transfer the two British mariners on board which are now en route to Spain.
Concluding, the yacht was left adrift with its navigation lights on and AIS activated, in order to be tracked for any future recovery operations.
