Crew rescued as fire rages on cargo ship

Published Sep 11, 2002

Share

Salvors from Smit Marine battled to get aboard a burning ship in rough weather off Richards Bay in a desperate attempt to prevent it from sinking.

They fear large-scale pollution if the ship sinks near the coast.

The Italian-owned Jolly Rubino, a large roll on-roll off (Ro-Ro) vessel, has hundreds of tons of fuel oil and valuable cargo aboard.

The ship was abandoned on Tuesday after its crew failed to contain a fire that started in the engine room.

The ship left Durban for Mombasa on Tuesday, and the fire broke out afterwards.

When it became apparent they were losing the battle against the blaze, the crew were airlifted late on Tuesday by helicopters usually used to take harbour pilots out to ships.

Spokesperson Claire Gomes said Smit had been awarded a Lloyds open-form salvage contract.

Smit salvage experts and divers from Durban arrived at the ship, 32km south of Richards Bay, aboard the anchor handler tug Pentow Service, but rough seas were hampering efforts to get men aboard the stricken vessel.

Another Smit salvage team has left Cape Town for Durban and was to have been airlifted to the ship by helicopter.

The team comprised a salvage master, an assistant salvage master, a salvage engineer and three divers.

Meanwhile, the salvage tug Wolraad Woltemade sailed from Cape Town on Wednesday and was expected to arrive on Thursday.

The oil pollution abatement vessel Kuswag I sailed from the Port of Durban to monitor the situation, while the oil pollution patrol aircraft Kuswag VII was expected in Durban later to keep an eye on pollution from the air.

Related Topics: