– Edited by Bev Mortimer – Sea Harvest, an internationally recognised seafood, this evening, 19 May, confirmed the fishing boat that sank on Friday, 17 May, and named as the MFV Lepanto, was one of the company’s fishing vessels in the group’s Viking Fishing division.
Sea Harvest is a black-owned company and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company, established in 1964. In its press release the company said the boat sank about 35 nautical miles offshore from Hout Bay and the search for the 11 missing fishermen had been called off after a significant search time following the accident.
Sea Harvest CEO Felix Ratheb said: “Keeping our staff safe at sea is our key priority. As a company, we are devastated by this tragedy. We have been in ongoing contact with the families, with a senior team and a counsellor visiting each family of the missing men today. We will continue to support them, as well as the rescued men and their families.”
Nine of the 20-man crew who were onboard the vessel were rescued and arrived safely on Friday night in Cape Town aboard the MFV Armana, another of the Group’s vessels in the area at the time of the distress call.
Ratheb added: “We are also providing updates and counselling for our broader employee base, as this has been extremely upsetting and sad for all of us. We are working closely with the relevant authorities, primarily South African Maritime Safety Authority, to establish the cause of the accident as soon as possible. We wish to thank our employees and the rescue organisations for their active search and rescue operations since Friday.”
The press release also said that a rescue operation was immediately launched after a distress call was received on initially by fishing boats in the vicinity and thereafter the South African Maritime Safety Authority’s Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) as lead coordinator. The extensive search and rescue operation was conducted with several vessels since Friday by South African Search and Rescue (SASAR), supported by the NSRI.
The nine survivors were reunited with their families after a physical evaluation by a medical doctor and were provided with immediate trauma counselling.
The SA Martime authority, MRCC, also revealed that the extensive long search included fishing vessels, a lightwing aircraft and a helicopter. MRCC tasked the AGA helicopter, which resulted in debris being spotted within the revised search area. – but no sign of any l of the missing fishermen or life jackets. The search continued for the remainder of the daytime without any other sighting reports.
Further information will be released as soon as it becomes available.
St Francis Chronicle 