Crew airlifted to safety
2004-10-17 17:19
Johannesburg - Sixteen people were airlifted off a 6 500 ton freighter in the early hours of Sunday after it ran aground near Port Grosvenor on the Natal south coast, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said.
NSRI spokesperson for the South Coast region, Edward Noyons, said the BBC China ran into trouble at 21:00 on Saturday.
"For the fist two hours everything was okay and the master was looking for a tug to assist them... but then water started to flood the engine room."
He then requested assistance evacuating the ship's crew.
Noyons said the ship's agents hired a Portnet helicopter, which airlifted the crew onto the beach just after 01:00 on Sunday.
The crew were bussed back to Durban at 08:00 on Sunday.
The damage to the ship was being assessed.
Noyons said an inquiry would be held to determine what had led to the freighter running aground.
He could not say what the freighter had been transporting.
- SAPA