CHANG HE

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Course/Position

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Freighter sank in Indian Ocean

The 'Chang He' sank in the Indian Ocean off the coast of eastern Somalia on July 15, 2022. On Jul y14, around 8.30 p.m. the Nairobi Rescue Coordination Centre (NRCC) received a call from Maritime Rescue and Coordination Centre (MRCC) that the ship was sinking in position 006 50 00N, 52 38 00E with 12 crew members on board. The Regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (RMRCC) in Mombasa also received a Mayday alert from their Nairobi counterpart on the same emergency. The first vessel that responded on the same day around 10 p.m. was the container vessel 'MSC Maersk Brooklyn', which was en route to Mombasa from Port Salalah in Oman. The crew of the ship rescued five sailors from a life raft and one in a lifeboat. Five hours later, five more crew members who were in another life raft were rescued. According to the ship's manifest, there were eight Syrians. Another vessel, the 'Hafnia Beijing', arrived on the scene on July 15 to help in the rescue mission. The two missing sailors were noted to have jumped overboard with their life jackets on, when the ship started sinking. The Somali rescue coordination centre was still searching for the missing sailors. The vessel was destined for Mombasa from the Maldives, where it had refuelled.