KNYSNA NEWS - At 10:02 this morning, all 19 crew members were safely ashore after being rescued off the vessel that ran aground near Buffel's Bay.

They were airlifted off the ship in relays by a Sikorski 76 helicopter of the Titan Helicopters Group

NSRI Knysna station commander, Graeme Harding said, "The rescue helicopter hoisted NSRI helicopter rescue swimmers onto the ship's deck where they instructed crew on the procedure to be hoisted into the helicopter by winch hoist using under-arm harnesses. Once they were safely airlifted to the beach, because of the terrain, they were then ferried by our NSRI sea rescue vehicles to a parking area in the Goukamma Nature Reserve where the Nature Conservation office was taken over as a rescue operations control point."

He said that WC Government Health EMS, ER24 ambulance services, the SA Police Services and Police Sea Borderline were also in attendance.

The crew members, Ukranian and Filipino nationals, are handed into the care of Police Sea Borderline and they will be transported to Mossel Bay for visa control processing and will also be accommodated there.

Two crew members sustained minor injuries, one had a laceration to his hand and another had an injured ankle, but they did not need to be hospitalised and received treatment from paramedics on the scene.

"The ship had washed side-on to the shore during the early morning and came to rest hard aground after her anchor dragged and the tug boat was not able to hold her off against rough sea swells of 5m and strong gusting to 45 knot onshore winds.. The decision was taken by the ship's captain to abandon the ship and the safest method was to deploy the helicopter and hoist the crew off the ship while our NSRI rescue boats stood by to assist if necessary," explained Harding.

"SAMSA officials remain on-scene and the fully laden rice carrier will be assessed for salvage and efforts to prevent an environmental risks. NSRI Knysna and NSRI Wildreness have now stood down and are returning to base and NSRI Mossel Bay have been taken off high alert as no further rescue assistance is required."

The NSRI commended the efforts of NSRI Knysna and NSRI Wilderness crew and the Titan helicopter for the efforts of saving the crew of Kiani Satu today.

Read a previous news flash here.


Photo by Elle Photography.

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