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The lives of more than 20 crew from the Greek-owned product carrier MV North Sea have been saved off the coast of Nigeria after their vessel caught fire. Falmouth coastguard in the UK received a distress call via Inmarsat C from a nearby cargo vessel, the Toledo Spirit, at 05:35 GMT on Tuesday, 29 May, and issued a call for assistance via the Inmarsat SafetyNET service to all ships in the area.
The Cambodia-registered vessel had no cargo on board but got into trouble 193 kms (120 miles) south-west of the Nigerian capital, Lagos. It is thought the 18,000 grt ship was possibly struck by lightning in an electrical storm.
"The Toledo reported reaching MV North by 06:26 GMT and at 06:45 let us know it had rescued seven crew members," said Falmouth coastguard's communication manager Steve Huxley.
"The Toledo eventually rescued 21 crew members and another ship, oil rig supply vessel Brago saved one more."
However, at least four mariners are thought to have lost their lives and the master of the vessel was also missing.
Once the distress signal had been sent and the SafetyNET request for
assistance issued, all other co-ordination of the rescue, which involved a number of vessels, relied on Inmarsat voice services.
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