A critically ill Ukrainian ship’s master is recovering in Cape Town’s Christiaan Barnard Hospital after being plucked to safety in a logistically daunting operation by Oryx helicopters from Ysterplaat’s 22 Squadron. Over and above airlifting the sick officer, a Polish relief captain was lowered on to the deck of the chemical tanker, St James Park, 150 nautical miles west of Cape Point. The 14 000-ton, Britishflagged, vessel, was hijacked by Somali pirates at the end of December, last year while en route from Spain to Thailand and held until May when a ransom was dropped off. The St James Park was in ballast, en route to load cargo at Richards Bay, thereafter on to the Far East, when the master, Georgiy Razinkov, 50, fell seriously ill due to suspected renal (kidney) failure. The vessel was too far out to sea for a rescue attempt so was ordered to make for the coast before the mission could come into play; what was to be a faultless three-hour operation including two Oryx helicopters, a Dakota fixed-wing aircraft from 35 Squadron, an NSRI swimmer and a Metro EMS paramedic. The master had been ill for five days before the rescue, exacerbated by the empty vessel’s pitching in heavy Atlantic seas.
