The OSV’s entire 15-strong crew later evacuated into a waiting liferaft and were eventually rescued by a PetroSA helicopter. Due to its limited passenger capacity, the helicopter needed to make two trips to the incident site to rescue all 15 survivors.
No injuries have been reported.
An initial investigation revealed the fire had ignited in the OSV’s mess and quickly spread to the other compartments, prompting the crew to abandon ship.
Baird Maritime
www.bairdmaritime.com