>Press Releases Home > Publications and press releases > Press Releases Rescue operation for yacht stranded in Indian Ocean Five crew members on board a yacht, which was stranded about 210 nautical miles off Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean, were rescued by nearby vessels under the coordination of the Hong Kong Marine Department's Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC). A spokesman for the Centre, Senior Marine Officer Mr Chu Wah-sau said today (May 19) the five male crew members -- three Germans, one Briton and one Portuguese -- were rescued by two tankers. The rescued yachtsmen are in good condition. Mr Chu said: "The Marine Department received a distress call from the yacht in the Indian Ocean at about 5:30am yesterday." The 18-metre-long wooden yacht Precious Dragon encountered extreme bad weather and heavy waves. It sank slowly after the engine compartment was flooded and power was lost. The yacht was licensed in Hong Kong though the licence has expired. "The Centre immediately contacted the Colombo Radio for assistance as the location of the incident was well beyond Hong Kong's search and rescue responsible area." "The Centre was told by the Colombo Radio that part of their radio was damaged and rescue vessels could not be deployed to the scene." "Under the coordination of MRCC, about nine vessels responded to the search and rescue and three of them -- a Singaporean tanker, a Greek tanker and a German container ship-- in the vicinity came to render assistance and successfully saved all the crew." Three men rescued by the Singaporean tanker are currently heading for Oman, while the other two rescued by the Greek tanker are heading for Singapore. The search and rescue operation was stood down at about 3pm yesterday. Mr Chu added that the relevant overseas government authorities, such as the ports of call of the tankers, were briefed about the incident. End/Monday, May 19, 2003
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