Amver bulk carrier rescues 20 near South Africa

The Amver participant Navios Northern Star recently notified the Amver center they had rescued 20 fishermen off the coast of South Africa after their fishing vessel began taking on water and sank on Saturday, April 26, 2014.

Captain Klunnikov Andrey reportedly received a distress alert from the fishing vessel Starfish that it was flooding and the crew was abandoning ship. The Maltese flagged bulker was only 20 miles from the sinking fishing vessel and immediately diverted to assist.

The captain of the 738 foot ship notified rescue authorities in South Africa, raised the rescue alarm, mustered a rescue team and prepared a first aid team. 

Two hours after receiving the initial distress, the Navios Northern Star was on scene and throwing rescue lines to the fishing vessel's survival raft. Twenty minutes later all the fishermen were safely aboard the Amver ship. Captain Klunnikov reported all the survivors were accounted for and uninjured. 

The Navios Northern Star sailed to Port Elizabeth to disembark the survivors. The Navios Northern Star, managed by Kleimar NV of Antwerp, Belgium, enrolled in Amver on August 5, 2005.

Photo credit: marinetraffic.com