The Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Singapore coordinated the rescue of all 25 crew members from the Liberia-flagged container ship MSC Hermes III on September 22 after the crew abandoned the vessel. The 2,490 TEU feeder ship, built in 2006 and acquired by MSC in 2020, sent a distress alert at around 8:45 a.m. Singapore time while transiting the South China Sea approximately 300 km east of Vietnam, within Singapore’s Maritime Search and Rescue Region. The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said the vessel had been sailing from Shanghai toward Jakarta on a regional feeder service when the crew took to a lifeboat; no details have been released on what prompted the abandonment.
MRCC Singapore immediately broadcast a request for assistance to vessels in the vicinity, and three ships responded, including two other MSC-operated vessels, MSC Ruby and MSC Florentina, which happened to be sailing nearby. MSC Ruby ultimately recovered all 25 crew members from the lifeboat, and all were reported safe with no injuries. Following the rescue, the now-unmanned MSC Hermes III was reported drifting northeast in the South China Sea, with MSC Ruby remaining in the area as MRCC Singapore coordinates with Vietnamese authorities to bring the rescued seafarers safely ashore.
Source: Seatrade Maritime — https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/accidents/25-crew-rescued-from-msc-container-ship-in-distress
Tags: MSC, Search and Rescue, South China Sea, Singapore
