M/V FEDRA – Incident Photo Of The Week

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:

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