Image: Tristan da Cunha Website
A rescue is underway to save 62 seafarers stranded on Gough Island in the South Atlantic, one of the most remote islands in the world. The fishing/research vessel, Geo Searcher, is reported to have sunk after hitting rocks about a mile off the island. The crew took to lifeboats and landed on Gough Island, making their way to an island weather station. There were two reported injures but neither were life-threatening.
The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) has sent the polar supply and research vessel, SA Agulhas II, to rescue the stranded crew. The ship has two helicopters and a doctor on board. SA Agulhas II is expected to arrive sometime tomorrow.
Gough Island is approximately 250 miles southeast of Tristan da Cunha and more than 1,700 miles west of Cape Town, South Africa.
I must have been a bit crowded/cozy with all those unexpected guests in the lighthouse.
A great seaboat, worked on her in the North Sea in the 80s.
Hope all are OK.
… and that is how covid19 reached the Last Place on Earth 😉
This rescue reminds me of when a scientific expedition in 1969, of which I was a member, had to be rescued off uninhabited East Island, in the Crozet archipelago, after having our camp and helicopter detroyed and supplies blown out to sea by a wind that sent the anemometer of our meteorologist way off scale. We survived on penguin meat, Kerguelen cabbage and a barrel of excellent French Navy issue plonk 😀 The rescue vessel had to come from Durban…