News

On the nigh of Feb 5, the 'Guardamar Urania' rescued 52 migrants, one of them a minor, from a cayuco, which had been located by a merchant ship 26 nautical miles from Arguineguín. They were taken on board and dropped off at the port at 1 a.m. (Canary Islands time). Report with photo: https://x.com/salvamentogob/status/1887446204813922622

On Jan 30, 2025, a crew member of the 'Diamond Princess' suffered a serious eye injury and needed urgent hospital specialist treatment. The cruise ship was en route from Brisbane to Auckland and sailing about 37 kilometres east of Matauri Bay when the accident occurred. A helicopter hoisted the patient off the Northland coast amid good conditions with favourable weather, daylight and a competent crew aboard the ship. The victim was transported to shore for further medical care on a higher level. Report with video: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/dramatic-winch-rescue-off-northland-coast-as-cruise-ship-worker-injured/ZJX3R4FCBZAXHJG5K7PJBFJWTY/

In the process of the removal of diesel fuel and other pollutants from the HMNZS 'Manawanui', the salvage barge has returned from the wreck site to Apia to unload tanktainers of liquid, completing the second cycle of removal. The salvors have recovered a significant amount of liquid from tanks, after operating above the 'Manawanui' for the past 17 day. The salvors have pumped liquid from the larger and more accessible tanks, and were now moving to harder to reach, and smaller, tank. At this stage of the operation the salvors’ divers need to cut access into the ship to reach the more difficult to get to tanks. There are 54 tanks of various sizes on the ship. Some contain diesel fuel, some lubricating oil, and some water, wastewater and bilge water. As of Feb 4, just over 340,000 litres of liquid has been recovered from the 'Manawanui'. Of this an estimated 320,000 litres of diesel fuel mix has been recovered from the ship’s diesel fuel tanks. This liquid is a mixture of diesel fuel and seawater. The amount of diesel fuel in the liquid recovered won’t be known until the liquid is processed, although the majority of the volume of liquid recovered so far is assessed to be diesel fuel. In addition to the liquids from the diesel fuel tanks, the salvors have recovered around 18,000 litres of lubricating oil from oil storage tanks within the ship.

On Feb 6 it was stated that the 'Bayesian' would be recovered after its mast was dismantled. The salvage operation is expected to start around the middle of April from a water depth around 50 meters. The Italian prosecutors and Coastguard selected a project for recovery led by TMC Marine Consultants Ltd. This involves removing the mast of 72 metres lenght from the water, separately from the rest the vessel. Other salvage plans that involved turning the 55.9 metre yacht, weighing 534 tons, nearly 90 degrees on seabed, without dismantling the mast, were rejected due to their complexity. Three crew members are still under investigation by prosecutors in Termini Imerese near Palermo: Captain James Cutfield and ship engineer Tim Parker Eaton. The suspects are suspected of manslaughter, and they may have caused a shipwreck. The investigation would not be complete until the wreck was removed from the water, according to the prosecutors. After the 'Bayesian' is raised and repositioned on the seabed, it will be transported to Palermo, which is about 8.4 nautical mile away, to investigate what caused the accident and to recover any sensitive information on board.

For the third day in a row, B.C. Ferries has cancelled sailings of the 'Coastal Inspiration' due to mechanical issues with the vessel's main engine on Feb 6. All sailings of the vessel between Swartz Bay and Tsawwassen are cancelled: 7 a.m. departure Tsawwassen 9 a.m. departure Swartz Bay 11 a.m. departure Tsawwassen 1 p.m. departure Swartz Bay 3 p.m. departure Tsawwassen 5 p.m. departure Swartz Bay 7 p.m. departure Tsawwassen 9 p.m. departure Swartz Bay Other sailings on this route were expected to proceed as scheduled, starting with the 7 a.m. departure from Swartz Bay and the 9 a.m. departure from Tsawwassen. B.C. Ferries added a vessel to the route on Feb 5. Anyone with a booking on one of the cancelled sailings wast to be contacted by the B.C. Ferries’ customer service centre, which would then try to arrange travel on an alternate sailing. In the case of a cancellation, the ferry corporation says it will refund fees and/or fares. Alternate service was available via the Tsawwassen (Vancouver) – Duke Point (Nanaimo) route.