All 20 crew members of the MFV Armana fishing vessel, which caught fire at sea, arrived in Cape Town on Sunday night.
The South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) said the crew had arrived safely at the Port of Cape Town while the search for the stricken vessel had been halted after officials lost sight of it early on Monday.
“The 20-member crew of the vessel arrived safely at 7.45pm local time in Cape Town on Sunday night aboard the MFV Ludwani, another Sea Harvest Group vessel, which had been mobilised to assist with the rescue after the crew of the MFV Armana had to abandon the fishing vessel due to a fire on board,” Samsa said.
The incident involving the 62-year-old MFV Armana occurred early on Sunday after the vessel had reportedly caught fire while offshore from Gansbaai.
Soon after the crew had abandoned the vessel they were rescued by the MFV Ludwani, with assistance co-ordinated by the Maritime Rescue Coordinating Centre at the Samsa Centre for Sea Watch and Response in Cape Town.
“Measures were taken to both monitor the MFV Armana where it had initially remained adrift at a location approximately 57 nautical miles south of Gansbaai, as well as to arrange salvage of the MFV Armana,” said the safety authority.
This included deploying the MFV Harvest Saldanha for monitoring, as well as the dispatch of the emergency towing vessel, Umkhuseli, to tow the stricken vessel to a place of refuge.
“However, regrettably, sight was eventually lost of the MFV Armana in the early hours of Monday. A search for the vessel was conducted for several hours early Monday without success, and a decision was taken to call it off at 1pm on Monday as the vessel is now presumed sunk,” Samsa said.
Samsa has issued a safety navigational warning to all vessels located in or near the last known ocean position of the fishing vessel and they have been asked to report any sightings of the MFV Armana.
“The Samsa incident management team is in constant contact with the owners and all parties concerned. Samsa will be investigating the cause of the fire,” the safety authority said.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Transport Minister Barbara Creecy instructed Samsa to conduct an urgent safety inspection of all commercial fishing vessels operating in South African waters.
“I must express my concern about the increasing number of incidents involving fishing vessels in our waters. This year alone, we have witnessed no fewer than five significant incidents, tragically resulting in the loss of 18 lives,” Creecy said.
“Such incidents are deeply concerning, and it is clear that we must take immediate action to improve the safety of our fishing fleet.”
She said Samsa had been instructed to develop a fishing vessel safety improvement plan with the aim of preventing future incidents and to ensure that vessels operating in SA waters met the highest safety standards.
“The safety of maritime workers is a matter of national priority,” Creecy said.
Samsa said it acknowledged and had taken note of Creecy’s directive to implement a programme to develop a more comprehensive fishing vessel safety improvement plan. It said it was committed to work with all fishing industry stakeholders to ensure that it achieved this goal.
