Three Canadians and one Frenchmen were rescued by an
Amver participating container ship Sunday, May 12, 2013 after their 32 foot sailboat was demasted and adrift approximately 350 miles southeast of Nantucket, Mass.
The four yachtsmen were sailing from the Caribbean to Canada when they lost their mast and activated their
Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB). Rescue personnel at the
U.S. Coast Guard First District command center received the distress alert and sent an Air Station Cape Cod
rescue aircraft along with the Amver participating container ship, MSC Chicago.
The 1,105 foot container ship was only 30 miles away when captain Sebastian Kapela, master of the
Liberian flagged ship, agreed to divert and assist the sailors. "We made contact with the USCG aircraft and received information about the sailing vessel Romarin II in distress with no power and lost mast," reported Captain Kapela in an email to the Amver center. "I ordered the crew to stand by in pilot doors and main deck, with a medical squad standing by in the engine room," he continued.
Can't see the video? Click
here.
The crew of the MSC Chicago maneuvered along the port side of the disabled sailboat and embarked the four sailors without incident. The survivors had no reported injuries and their sailboat was left adrift. The MSC Chicago resumed its voyage to Gioia Tauro, Italy.
The MSC Chicago
enrolled in the Amver system on April 26, 2006 and has earned one
Amver award for participation.
Video credit: USCG
Posts
