The ship was heading from UAE to Eritrea. All the 20 sailors rescued
BY TESFANEWS
Authorities in Oman announced that twenty crew members of a Tanzanian flag ship were rescued by a fisherman after their Eritrea bound ship sank on Saturday off the coast of Lakabi, a town some 620 kilometers (385 miles) southwest of the sultanate’s capital, Muscat.
The The Royal Oman Police and Oman’s Transportation and Communications Ministry confirmed the cargo ship was loaded with construction material and was heading from United Arab Emirates to Eritrea.
The ministry in a statement carried by the state-run Oman News Agency said seawater poured into the ship through a leak, sinking it.
The Omani fisherman, Fayiz Al Junaibi, who raced to rescue the 20 crew members with two fishing boats said he received SOS call from one Pakistani crew on the ship.
“On Eid day at 9 am, a Pakistani man who worked on the ship called me and told me that he had a problem with his boat engine. I took him for a distance of two miles and helped him. The next day he called again and asked to help him with the engine.
“At 2 pm yesterday (Saturday) afternoon he called again and told me to take more petrol, just in case.”
“At 2:30pm he called me again and told me that the ship is sinking. I left with two fishing boats along with my worker, and reached after 25 mins. I reached and tried helping all the 20 crew. At 4:45pm, I called the coastguard for assistance, and by 5 pm the authorities arrived.”
The crew were taken to Al Jazir Hospital for medical examination and they are all in good health condition.
“The matter of helping the vessel now lies with the members of the Royal Oman Navy and the Royal Airforce of Oman (RAFO),” said one official at the Port of Duqm.
* AFP and Times of Oman contributed to the above story.
