This photo was taken today by Ship Spotter Adrian Perera near Gibraltar. Lloyds List tells us:
EMERGENCY services from Gibraltar and Spain mounted a joint operation last night to save 31 seafarers whose cargo ship, the M/V Fedra, ran aground against Europa Point in severe weather.
By 10.30pm on Friday night three men had been airlifted off by a Spanish rescue helicopter and the rest were huddled on the bow of the vessel awaiting rescue.
But with the ship pounded by waves in the dark, the high winds made the helicopter evacuation both extremely dangerous and difficult.
The 24-year old Liberian old cargo ship Fedra was pinned against the sheer cliffs of Europa Point and the sound of steel grinding against limestone cut through howling gusts of wind of up to 83 km per hour.
The drama started late yesterday morning when the vessel suffered engine failure late and dragged its anchor until it came perilously close to the shore. Read More…
For more dramatic photos of this incident click HERE.
UPDATE: Reader Jim Crone points us to this photo slideshow from the website DiscoverGibraltar.com
JUST IN: Commentor JKB found video of this incident on YouTube:
Captain John Konrad is co-founder of Unofficial Networks and Editor In Chief of this blog. He is a USCG licensed Master Mariner of Unlimited Tonnage and, since graduating from SUNY Maritime College, has sailed a variety of ships from ports around the world.
He currently lives in Morro Bay, California with his wife and two children.
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6 responses so far ↓
1 Jim Crone // Oct 11, 2008 at 6:15 am
The Fedra is now breaking apart, the stern section is completely detached and is resting on the shallow bottom while the forward section is afloat and is being moved violently by the waves. There are over 80 photographs taken this morning which can be viewed on Site News page of the http://www.discovergibraltar.com website.
2 JKB // Oct 13, 2008 at 7:40 am
Just ran across this Youtube video of the FEDRA on the rocks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXlVjocE_uU
3 Maritime Monday 131 // Oct 13, 2008 at 3:18 pm
[...] has “Fedra crew rescued as vessel breaks up“. gCaptain is also covering with “Incident Photo Of The Week - M/V FEDRA” and links to a slideshow with many more dramatic [...]
4 nacuam // Oct 15, 2008 at 1:22 am
Words are not enough to say thank you to the gibraltar and spanish authorities, to save the life of mv fedra crews specially the life of 2nd engr. my husband, and 4th engr. and the rest of the filipino crew. to the pople behind the rescue and to the crane operator, THANK YOU SO MUCH SIR!!! from the bottom of our heart . May the Almighty God bless all of you .
5 Ian Smith // Oct 28, 2008 at 5:33 am
Forget the engine breakdown, I have good info that the all-Filipino crew had disabled the main engine for repairs, and left it disabled overnight, despite the approaching weather, forecast for previous 2 days!
6 Ian Smith // Oct 28, 2008 at 5:38 am
Forget the engine breakdown, I have good info the all-Filipino crew had disabled the main engine for repairs, and left it disabled overnight, despite the approaching weather, forecast for previous 2 days!
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