Amver ship saves 3 in the Atlantic

Three French sailors were rescued by an Amver participating tanker after they decided to abandon their 33 foot sailboat over 1,000 miles off the Massachusetts coast on Tuesday, June 11, 2013.

U.S. Coast Guard rescue personnel in Boston received a call from the French Mission Control Center about three sailors aboard a 33 foot sailboat with a partially disabled rudder. Two of the sailors requested to be taken off the stricken yacht.

The Coast Guard, using an Amver Surface Picture (SURPIC), located the Singapore flagged oil tanker Torm Neches and requested it sail toward the distress location. The tanker was 70 miles from the last known position of the sailboat.

The crew of the Amver ship arrived on the scene but there was a slight communications problem, the crew of the tanker was unable to speak French. Thankfully the language of search and rescue is easy to understand and as the Torm Neches prepared to rescue the survivors, the yachtsmen donned life jackets.

"Please note two survivors have come aboard my vessel in a small dingy, the third one is preparing to come aboard," stated Captain Rakesh Mehra from the bridge of the Torm Neches. The third sailor made it aboard the Amver ship. French rescue personnel notified the survivor's families of their situation.

It is not know where the survivors were taken.

The Torm Neches, managed by Torm Singapore Pte Ltd, enrolled in Amver on October 6, 2000 and has earned 7 Amver participation awards

Photo credit: marrinetraffic.com