Car carrier rescues Turkish sailors

Terry Hutson IT WAS a case of being in the right place at the right time last week when the Wallenius Wilhelmsen car carrier Don Quijote plucked 22 seamen from the Atlantic Ocean after they were forced to abandon their sinking ship 375 miles off the Namibian coast. The Turkish bulk ship C Tahsin was en route from the Philippines to Corpus Christi in Texas with 53 000 tonnes of clinker, when cracks in the hull opened and the ship began taking on water. Earlier the 26-year old ship had passed through heavy seas while rounding the Cape. Captain Staffan Bergman, master of the Don Quijote, which was en route from Europe to South Africa, told FTW that they had received a Mayday from the Turkish ship and altered course to intercept. Within three hours they had sighted the sinking ship, which was now very low in the water. "Shortly afterwards we found a life raft in the water with 22 men on board, so we lowered our rescue boat to take the seamen on board. They had been in the water only a few hours and the seas were relatively calm, so they were quite lucky." The rescued seafarers were accommodated in the ship's gymnasium and several spare cabins while a whip around by the Don Quijote crew quickly organised spare clothing. The Turkish sailors went ashore at the next port of call, East London, from where they were repatriated home.