Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Amver ship rescues Canadian 400 miles north of Puerto Rico

The combined efforts of a good Samaritan sailboat, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter, and several Amver ships resulted in the rescue of a severely dehydrated 61 year old Canadian man from a sailboat 400 miles north of Puerto Rico on Monday, November 4, 2013.

Coast Guard rescue authorities in Sector San Juan received notification from the sailing vessel Enzo, via satellite phone, on Sunday, November 3, 2013 and diverted the Amver participating reefer Chiquita Scandinavia. The Bahamian flagged ship arrived on scene and deployed a rescue boat but was unable to safely embark the yachtsman because of 3 meter waves and winds greater than 20 knots. Rescue authorities also diverted the Coast Guard Cutter Vigilant with a rescue helicopter and another Amver ship, the AS Vincentia, to assist in the rescue effort.

Once the AS Vincentia was on scene the crew was able to safely bring the sailor aboard and treated him for severe dehydration. The AS Vincentia, managed by Christian F. Ahrenkiel of Hamburg, Germany, then changed course to meet the Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen helicopter.

The helicopter lowered a rescue swimmer who provided initial medical care and hoisted the Canadian aboard the helicopter where he was taken to waiting EMS  personnel. The sailor was later transported to Centro Medico Hospital.

The Chiquita Scandinavia enrolled in the Amver system on January 1, 1992 and has earned 21 awards for participation and the AS Vincentia enrolled in Amver on December 4, 2010 and earned three awards for participation.

Photo credit: crew of the M/V AS Vincentia


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1 comment:

  1. UnknownNovember 17, 2013 at 10:40 AM

    Thank you, Amver and Captain Ahrenkiel of "AS Vincentia" for the rescue. It is great to know that you are out there in case of need.
    I am Captain Reiner Schick and I was on board S/V Kimberlite an Amel 53, the mentioned: Good Samaritan Sailboat, in the above story.

    ReplyDelete

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