Seatrade-Maritime: 25 crew rescued from MSC container ship in distress

Published by Seatrade-Maritime

The 20-year-old, 2,490 teu MSC Hermes III sent a distress call at around 8:45 am Singapore time on Tuesday while transiting the South China Sea.

The Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said Liberia-registered vessel was around 300 km east of Vietnam and Singapore’s Maritime Search and Rescue Region (MSRR) and MRCC Singapore rebroadcast the distress call.

Three vessels responded to the distress call and another MSC vessel the MSC Ruby recovered all 25 crew from the MSC Hermes III from a lifeboat after they had abandoned ship. All crew are reported to be safe and uninjured.

It is not clear what happened to the MSC Hermes III to cause the crew to abandon ship. The vessel had been sailing from Hong Kong to Jakarta based on AIS data from Pole Star Global. Following the incident the container ship would appear to be drifting northeast wards in the South China Sea with the MSC Ruby remaining nearby.

Two other MSC vessels the MSC Florentina and the MSC Turin III are also in the vicinity of the MSC Hermes III.

“MRCC Singapore is coordinating with the Vietnamese MRCC on arrangements for the rescued crew members to return safely to shore,” the MPA statement said.