MFV O.13 MORGENSTER

General information

Course/Position

Latest news

No trace of capsized trawler

After the capsize of the "Morgenster" oon Nov 7 the search for the capsized wreck had to be suspended because of the bad weather in the area. Meanwhile, the vessel seems to have sunk. Two days of intensive search by an aircraft yielded nothing, from which the British Coast Guard concluded that the ship almost certainly sunk. At the beginning of this week the weather was still bad in the area. If the weather allows it, the search for the wreck will be continued by a ship with sonar equipment. Meanwhile, warnings remain in effect for all vessels in the area.of the position 50 38.25 N 000 31.66 S, which is about 11.5 miles southeast of Eastbourne.

Trawler capsized, crew saved

The "Morgenster - O 13" has capsized about 20 kilometers off the Belgian coast, but in English waters off the Eastbourne coast on Nov 7, 2018, at 3.52 p.m. The trawler was working 15 miles offshore on the edge of the Dover Straits shipping lanes when its nets apparently snagged an underwater obstacle and quickly capsized. All four crewmen, Claude Hollebeke, Guy Hollebeke, Kevin Zamman and James Devey, were thrown into the water which was being whipped up into a four metre swell by near gale force winds. A passing coaster witnessed the event and immediately put out a Mayday distress message before plucking two of the fisherman from the water. Meanwhile the remaining crewman managed to scramble onto the upturned hull of the stricken vessel. The Maritime Rescue and Coordination Center in Ostend and the rescue services received the distress call. The RNLI boats from Eastbourne and Newhaven were alerted. Lifeboats from Eastbourne and Newhaven were scrambled along with coastguard rescue helicopter 163. The helicopter was first on scene and winched the two men from the upturned hull and then the two men from the coaster "Arklow Breeze" before taking all four to the Conquest Hospital at Hastings for assessment. On Nov 8 they can return home. Meanwhile the volunteer crew of Eastbourne lifeboat were requested to stand by the upturned hull to mark its position and to warn other shipping in the area of the danger until such time as the Coastguard could organise a tug to take the wreck to a safe place and set up an exclusion zone. Reports with photo and video: https://rnli.org/news-and-media/2018/november/08/eastbourne-lifeboat-called-to-capsized-trawler https://www.kentonline.co.uk/folkestone/news/dramatic-footage-of-helicopter-rescue-193031/ http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20181108_03925072