The US Coast Guard and two nearby vessels rescued crew members from a sinking fishing trawler after it was involved in a reported collision with a Mediterranean Shipping Co container ship.
The agency said it is investigating the incident involving the 621-gt trawler Tremont (built 1970) and MSC’s 8,090-teu MSC Rita (built 2005), which took place 101 km off Chincoteague, Virginia.
The Coast Guard said it received a mayday call at 2am local time Friday (0600 GMT) from the Tremont reporting a collision with the containers ship. The trawler’s crew reported that they were abandoning the sinking vessel.
The agency sent a MH-60 Jawhawk helicopter, an HC-130 Hercules airplane, a lifeboat from Coast Guard Station Chincoteague and the cutter Rollin Fritch.
Also responding to the scene were two good Samaritan ships — the US Navy-owned, 3,180-gt research vessel Atlantis (built 1997) and a vessel identified only as the motor vessel Drystan — that were in the area.
The Atlantis launched a small boat to transfer 12 of the Tremont crew members to the Drystan, and the helicopter hoisted the trawler’s captain from the vessel as it sank.
There were no injuries reported. The Drystan transferred crew to the Coast Guard lifeboat, which then took them ashore, while the rescued captain was taken to Coast Guard Sector Virginia.
“While this morning’s events were unfortunate, 13 people were rescued from an extremely perilous situation,” said Capt Jennifer Stockwell, commander of Sector Virginia.
“The combined efforts of good Samaritans and Coast Guard response assets demonstrates a selfless commitment to others.”
TradeWinds has contacted Switzerland-based MSC for comment on the incident.
The liner giant operates the MSC Rita on its Indus Express service linking India, Pakistan, the Middle East and the US East Coast. Tracking data from VesselsValue shows that the vessel is moored at Charleston, North Carolina. Schedule information on the MSC website shows its next stop is Freeport in the Bahamas, where it is scheduled to arrive on Monday.
The Panama-flagged MSC Rita is classed by DNV and has protection-and-indemnity insurance from North P&I, according to Equasis. VesselsValue estimates that it is worth $58.3m.
The ship’s inspection record shows no detentions. Its most recent inspection, which the US Coast Guard conducted in Baltimore in August, found one deficiency related to pollution prevention equipment.
The US-flagged Tremont is controlled by Tremont Fisheries of Lakeville, Massachusetts.
