Two swedish sailors have been rescued by a passing cargo ship after their vessel hit an unidentified object in the water about 55NM west of Mopelia in the Society Islands of French Polynesia and they were forced to abandon their vessel.

Published 2 days ago

Source:  Office of the High Commission of the Republic of French Polynesia

On Friday 15 August at 07:50, JRCC Tahiti received a distress call from the Swedish flagged sailboat Itornia which had apparently begun taking on water after a collision with an unidentified floating object. The distress beacon made it possible to locate the ship and its two occupants at 55 nautical miles west of Mopelia, in the archipelago of the Society Islands.

The JRCC Tahiti immediately coordinated the operation. They were able to contact the two sailors on board aged 64 and 69, who confirmed their ability to evacuate their stricken vessel into their liferaft with food, security equipment and their personal belongings.

At the same time, JRCC Tahiti contacted two nearby merchant ships, the chemical ship Hafnia Cheetah and the cargo vessel Intrepid.  After an analysis of the time and conditions for intervention, the JRCC Tahiti routed the Intrepid which was about three hours away from the damaged yacht. Intrepid was able to collect the sailors and transported them to Tahiti.

Following the abandonment of the sailing boat, JRCC Tahiti prepared and issued an urgent notice to navigators to signal the danger posed by the drifting semi-submersed vessel.

The High Commissioner of the Republic to French Polynesia thanked all those involved in the incident. “In particular the crew of the Intrepid whose professionalism and rapid and decisive intervention have led to a favourable outcome, once again demonstrating the exemplary solidarity of seafarers”

JRCC Tahiti said the rescue highlighted the importance of having all safety measures on board, including distress beacons and saluted the commitment of rescue workers and the solidarity of mariners at sea.

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Related Links:

• JRCC Tahiti
• Office of the High Commissioner of the Republic of French Polynesia

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