Bru
Well-Known Member
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-38622179
I was monitoring this on the VHF in the early hours, rather sobering
What the news report doesn't state is that initially the crew abandoned ship into the water being, for some reason, unable to reach the liferaft
The first ship on scene, a Ro-Ro ship, quickly located six casualties in the water but the seventh was unaccounted for for a good half an hour
Several other ships diverted to assist and two CG helos, a Dutch helo and the Ramsgate lifeboat were tasked
By the time the first helo arrived on scene, the Ro-Ro had recovered two casualties and deployed a liferaft into which four more had scrambled
They then recovered those four and the seventh casualty on board
The Dutch helo was stood down, the two CG helos winched the casualties off the Ro-Ro and transferred them to Southend where ambulances were waiting to take them to hospital. The Ramsgate lifeboat stayed on scene to check for debris and search for the ship's EPIRB which was transmitting
No word on what caused the sinking but it seemed to be very rapid. From the initial mayday to comms being lost seemed to be no more than 10 or 15 minutes
No word on the condition of the casualties either but they all appear to have survived and hopefully they'll be none the worse in due course
I was monitoring this on the VHF in the early hours, rather sobering
What the news report doesn't state is that initially the crew abandoned ship into the water being, for some reason, unable to reach the liferaft
The first ship on scene, a Ro-Ro ship, quickly located six casualties in the water but the seventh was unaccounted for for a good half an hour
Several other ships diverted to assist and two CG helos, a Dutch helo and the Ramsgate lifeboat were tasked
By the time the first helo arrived on scene, the Ro-Ro had recovered two casualties and deployed a liferaft into which four more had scrambled
They then recovered those four and the seventh casualty on board
The Dutch helo was stood down, the two CG helos winched the casualties off the Ro-Ro and transferred them to Southend where ambulances were waiting to take them to hospital. The Ramsgate lifeboat stayed on scene to check for debris and search for the ship's EPIRB which was transmitting
No word on what caused the sinking but it seemed to be very rapid. From the initial mayday to comms being lost seemed to be no more than 10 or 15 minutes
No word on the condition of the casualties either but they all appear to have survived and hopefully they'll be none the worse in due course
to make it show up