Incidents around the coast over the past few days at Hermanus, St Helena Bay and Shelly Beach

NSRI Hermanus duty crew were activated following a request for assistance from a local whale watching boat reporting engine trouble and requiring assistance to get to the harbour. Also, NSRI Mykonos duty crew were activated following a request for assistance from 3 fishermen onboard a fishing boat reporting engine failure 5 nautical miles off-shore of St Helena Bay. Lastly, NSRI Shelly Beach duty crew were activated following a request for assistance from 3 crew onboard a RHIB (Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat) reporting engine failure off-shore of Sunwich Port, close to Banana Beach, Port Shepstone.

HERMANUS:

Jean le Roux, NSRI Hermanus duty coxswain, said:

The sea rescue craft The Legacy was launched and we rendezvoused with the casualty vessel off-shore of De Kelders 8 nautical miles from Hermanus harbour.

The 20 passengers and 4 crew members were safe onboard.

A towline was established and we towed the vessel to Hermanus harbour without incident.

On arrival off-shore of the harbour we rafted our sea rescue craft alongside the casualty boat and brought them safely to their moorings.

No further assistance was required and the operation was completed at 21h00.

ST HELENA BAY:

Nic Stevens, NSRI Mykonos station commander, said:

Our NSRI duty crew responded to our NSRI Mykonos base and we headed towards St Helena Bay by road in our NSRI rescue vehicle, towing the sea rescue craft Spirit of East London II.

On arrival at St Helena Bay we launched the sea rescue craft and a search commenced for the casualty craft.

During a search for the casualty boat the casualty crew set off a red distress flare, we rendezvoused with the casualty craft finding all 3 crew safe onboard.

A towline was established and we towed them to St Helena Bay harbour without incident and once we had them safely in the harbour no further assistance was required.

Our duty crew returned to our NSRI Mykonos rescue base and the operation completed at 20h00.

SHELLY BEACH:

Gary Wolmarans, NSRI Shelly Beach station commander, said:

They reported to be drifting but in no immediate danger.

Our duty crew responded to our NSRI Shelly Beach rescue base and NSRI sea rescue craft Spirit of Dawn was launched.

On arrival on the scene we found the casualty craft with the the 3 local crew safe onboard their craft.

Attempts were made to repair the outboard motor but after efforts to get the motor to start were not successful we established a towline and we towed her, without incident, to Shelly Beach, towing her through the surf line to successfully beach at the Sonny Evans small craft harbour, where no further assistance was required.

The operation completed at 14h30.