Ship on Fire ??

[rivonia]

Well we were sitting on the Balcony here in sunny Cyprus. A merchant vessel about 10 kilometers off shore. Belching thick black smoke, it was comletely covered in the smoke. After about 5 mins it was getting worse. Phoned the port police gave the approx position and what we could see. ten mins later they phone back more questions. By this time we had the ship on AIS, gave the name to the port police. Oh thats OK we have spoken to him he is burning oil as he has engine problem.

Nothing done by the PP. Ship still smoking. I thought that they would have sent out one of there high speed craft out at least!

 

[NornaBiron]

Well we were sitting on the Balcony here in sunny Cyprus. A merchant vessel about 10 kilometers off shore. Belching thick black smoke, it was comletely covered in the smoke. After about 5 mins it was getting worse. Phoned the port police gave the approx position and what we could see. ten mins later they phone back more questions. By this time we had the ship on AIS, gave the name to the port police. Oh thats OK we have spoken to him he is burning oil as he has engine problem.

Nothing done by the PP. Ship still smoking. I thought that they would have sent out one of there high speed craft out at least!

Why, what could they have achieved? If they've spoken to the captain and have the ship on AIS, they can do any follow reporting without going out to him. Lots of ships (and some yachts) belch huge amounts of black smoke when their engines aren't running efficiently.