A Bulgarian ship has rescued 34 fishermen from a burning vessel in the Indian Ocean, dariknews.bg reported.
This was announced by Martin Angelov, security officer and responsible for the quality, safety and security management system of the fleet of the company that owns the vessel.
The Liberian-flagged cargo ship Eleen Armonia, traveling from Singapore to Cape of Good Hope, rescues the crew of the fishing vessel about 500 nautical miles southeast of Sri Lanka.
„This is currently one of the busiest sea routes in the world, especially after the recent events of a year and a half, in which the Houthis have been attacking ships in the Gulf of Aden. There are also pirate raids there, but the Houthis are mostly those who are obstructing the passage of ships. Most commercial ships head and pass from the Cape of Good Hope to Singapore and back. This is the entire flow of shipping from the Far East to Europe, West Africa, etc. Our ship passes through this area, along with many others," said Martin Angelov.
The burning fishing vessel was also noticed by other vessels, but no one stopped. Only our ship and our crew, led by Captain Todor Todorov, came to help.
They had to carry out a risk assessment, since the incident concerns an unidentified burning vessel, which was noticed only by smoke, without an automatic identification system and without appearing on radar. In addition, there is always the risk of a possible explosion.
The captain and crew then undertake a series of complex maneuvers to get close enough, but safe, to the ship. This is followed by the lowering of a "fire main" and hoses from the Eleen Armonia to start fighting the fire and saving what is left of the distressed fishing vessel.
After a few hours, the fire was extinguished, and all 34 fishermen were rescued. They did not even have life jackets.
The Bulgarian company has established contact with the shipowner of the fishing vessel. It turned out that they have three other fishing vessels nearby, and vessels have been sent to pick up the rescued crew, who can sail to their homeland - Indonesia.
We were at the right place at the right time, said Martin Angelov. He explained that the crew of the Bulgarian company's ship was international, but the senior officers - captain, chief engineer, second engineer and senior mate - were Bulgarians.