'Massive’ air sea search off S. African coast for 2 fishermen
Posted by ashertrix , Sunday, May 23, 2010 7:54 PM
Cape Town - A massive air sea rescue operation is underway off South Africa’s Northern Cape province involving the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), police, the South Africa Air Force (SAAF) and other agencies to find two men missing in a fishing boat.
Ships from as far away as Cape Town (231 nautical miles) have been dispatched to the scene, while agencies including the Transnet National Ports Authority, Maritime Radio Services, the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) and a vessel from a diamond mining company are involved. The SAAF’s 35 Squadron based at Ysterplaat in Cape Town has a turboprop-powered C-47TP Dakota maritime patrol craft in the search. In a phone interview, NSRI’s Craig Lambinon said, "The search is continuing." Earlier, fog had caused problems for the searchers, but Lambinon said the fog was no longer hampering their operations. He added: ”Two rescue craft from the NSRI and the diamond boat” were currently active in the search. He confirmed that the SAAF Dakota was continuing the search from the air. This search is now more effective as the ageing aircraft does not have equipment to see through fog, but added that the South African Navy had not been called in.
An NSRI news release said two small open fishing boats (called ”Crayfish Bakkies” locally) with two men on each boat were reported missing near Alexander Bay in the Northern Cape province in thick fog. The town is not far from South Africa's border with Namibia. The Northern Cape is an arid region with small coastal towns often relying on fishing-related activities. One of the boats succeeded in rowing ashore Thursday night, but reported the second boat had broken an oar and was adrift in the thick fog. The release said the two men, Pascale van Rooyen and Mannetjies had no red distress flares or other emergency equipment on board. The NSRI contacted them via cell-phone Thursday and instructed them to switch off their cell-phone at 10 P.M. to conserve their batteries. They were also told to hug each other for warmth during the night and to stay in their boat at all costs. The Maritime Radio Services also put out an all ships alert overnight to warn ships of the two missing men, although no ships were reported in the area.
Posted in
Post a Comment