After receiving the distress call, John Henson and John Woudstra, the duty radio operators at Marine Rescue Sydney relayed the distress call and were able to divert the tanker Alexander Spirit to come to the aid of the stricken vessel and the three crew members on board.
The tanker was able to reach the scene within minutes and stood to leeward of the stricken longliner. The tanker’s lifeboat was lowered and the three crewmembers were taken off. By 8:00 am Alexander Spirit were able to advise Marine Rescue Sydney that they had the longliner’s three crew safely on board. They were uninjured. The three crew members tare being conveyed on board the tanker to Sydney and should arrive later today.
The abandoned and sinking longliner poses a navigational hazard and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority have issued a navigation warning for the area in the vicinity of 33° 21.6' S 152° 12.9' E.
One of the radio operators at Marine Rescue Sydney, John Henson said 'the sinking vessel was right on the edge of our radio range but we were still able to stay in contact with all involved. It was very fortunate Alexander Spirit was within visual range of the sinking vessel, so they were able to help the crew very quickly.' This is the second distress situation in just over one month that Henson and Woudstra have been involved in. Last month they responded to a distress call from a sinking recreational vessel off Botany Bay. The crew of one was rescued by a NSW Maritime vessel.
Photographs are copyright by law. If you wish to use or buy a photograph you must contact the photographer directly (there is a hyperlink in most cases to their website, or do a Google search.) with your request.
Please do not contact
Sail-World.com
as we cannot give permission for use of other photographer’s images.
Customised news feeds -Marine Industry companies, Clubs and Associations have their own customised version of our news feed on their website. Look_here_to_see_examples
