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stranded at sea

Started by busumark, June 21, 2008, 18:47:23 CET

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busumark

hi guys, its a miracle that i am writing this post. yesterday we went out to fish during the night i was on a 27ft boat with another 3 persons. at about 2 a.m the engine that was running stopped and when we started the other engine the alarm for batteries and oil presure began to beep. when one of us went in the cabin it was with water and when we opened the floor the engines were flooded. we only had time to call valletta radio to tell them that we were sinking and gave then our exact position on gps. in a few seconds the boat went down i and another person got trapped inder the tent but managed to escape the others managed to get out before. we only had a 4ft dingy that was tied to the boat but somehow we had a knife to cut. we went in the dingy how we could imagine 4 person on a 4ft dingy at 2a.m about 17 miles out and a NW swell. we were in the west side to we paddled how we could to the land so that the current doesnt take us past malta. we saw a big light and began to paddle to try to reach it but it seemed to stay the same distance. after about an hour a boat came to search for us. they went in our initial position search a bit and drifted with the current they even put a floodlight in our direction but they did nt see us. they did this 2 times and left. they only search for us for about 15 min. we than tought that when the sun rises they will come again to search for us maybe with a plane or a boat. no one came and we kept paddeling for that light. when it was they we saw that that light was a trawler with a tuna cage. we paddled for it and at 8 a.m we were about 200 mtrs from the cage and they came to rescue us with a dingy from the trawler. we spend 6hrs on a 4ft dingy with no water or food. they radioed valletta port and arescue boat came for us. i am very angry with the personell of that boat that came to search for us at night. they searched for only about 15 f***ing mins and they didnt send a plane to search for us when it was day. they spend more time than that searching for a dead body of an illegal immigrant. they should be ashamed of themselves they left us there stranded at sea when they could have saved us. its not stoping here i am going to speak with someone about this. maybe next time they search better and can save someone. make sure that everyone has lifejackets and everything for safety at hand not in cupboard or under the seat.  to day i have learned that a sinking boat is not going to give you time to act.

shanook

wow Mark....Thank God u are ok. What a bad experience I can just about imagine the tension u had when the search party took off without a proper search...

Granitu

wow ahh, my uncle experienced something similar once (around 15 years ago) when 3 were lost while trolling for lampuki... they were mentioned on t.v and found themselves at sicily

funny but true, they care more for a dead body rather than save a human life.. how did the boat sink???? you must have hit it with something i think
Good season so far.....

DJS

Wow Mark, I guess you have just gone through all of our worst nightmares!

It's really shocking that the search and resue team gave up so easily! It will certainly make me think twice about going out again for night-time fishing and will be a reminder to all of us to always keep the boat fully stocked with life saving equipment. Thank God there were other ships in the area and the sea was calm.



19 ft Galeon Galia with 140 hp Tohatsu

MartinB

Wow mark! thank god you guys are ok! No thanks to the "search and rescue" what's the point of going 17nm out to perform a search for 15mins? ::) They spent more time travelling to get on site than actually searching??!!

skip

Hi Mark, reading this sent shivers down my spine as I can just picture the boat going down in a flash and everyone struggling to get out of it, what a nightmare, and thank god you guys made it. I can't believe that you radio'd in your exact position and basically nothing much was sent in terms of SAR efforts. It's lucky that you had a dingy that you could get into at least to get you all out of the water.

Are you sure that the boat that came to look for you was an AFM/Police vessel or do you think it could have been a boat in the area that heard the radio call and came to see if they could provide assistance? I'm surprised and if it's the case disgusted that an AFM patrol boat would only spend a few minutes looking and definately keep us posted on what the authorities have to say about this incident. Don't let them sweep it under the carpet.

When they radioed Valletta Port and a boat came for you , did you ask them why the f**k was no one looking for us last night etc?

And yes we all learn from past experience, having a ditch bag handy is essential when going out, especially at night, but how many of us stow everything away not realising that will be a matter of seconds if a boat goes down due to a hole.

I reckon for night fishing all lifejackets should have personal strobes on them and try and keep that handheld VHF in a water proof sleeve and handy so that if you abandon ship at least you have your life jacket, strobe and VHF.

I believe there are some special bags that float where you can put all sorts of equipment in but haven't really seen them locally. Main thing is that no thanks to the SAR resources (or lack of!) you eventually made it back to safety

baghira

OHHHH
That's an aweful experiance mate. Wow, but what was the issue of the tent. Do you cover the boat at night??
As skip said, be sure of what actually had happened, but if you are definitely sure, don't be afraid to bring facts to the people responsible of that 'rescue'
These guys should put themselves in the same situation.....

As I always say, safety comes first. In my practice, I always preach about this, but not all care, until some bad experince like this happens. Here the story had a good ending, but others could not be as lucky to be rescued, like you.
Ear Pain aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

shanook

Mark, I still cant believe what happened to u at sea. I keep thinking about it and i shudder all the time.
This can happen to anyone of us as I know that Busumark is a very meticulous kind of person and pays great attention to details. There is a lot to learn from this bad experience and I am sure that once Mark has calmed down and put it behind him, he will be able share more details from which we all can learn a lot.

suffrun

WOW.............what a nightmare you have just been through, you should thank your gods!!

Its a shame and disgrace for the SAR acting that way, if in actual fact they were!! It would even be more disgraceful if they didn't go out to search for you!

Have you considered publishing you story in a local newspaper, like for example Maltatoday?  if you contact them I am sure that they will follow it up.I should imagine that doing so will hit home.

Skip, would it be appropriate for MFF to write an official letter to the SAR and request an inquiry into the matter?

busumark

hi guys i am better today. yesterday i was very angry for the AFM personell but to day i was very more angry with them after reading the report on the front page of the sunday times. they told the gurnalist that at 01.30 a distress call was received from the hanina and a recsue boat was sent immediatly and they didnt find any vessel in the area. i couldnt beleive my eyes i had to read again. they said they didnt find a vessel in the area. the boat sank how the f**k could they find a vessel in the area. it in the bottom the boat in 900mtrs. i told valletta port we have alot of water we are sinking. i phoned the gurnalist and told him aboat the afm how they left us there. i told ok maybe at night they didnt see us. but if they sent a rescue plane at dawn in about 5 min they would have spotted us. i told a lot of other things that they could have them that i even know. they should know better than me what to do. he told he will contact the afm for their version and tomorrow he will wright another report in the times. i think the water came in from a bellow or the exaust we dont know. it came in quickly. everything was knew it was the second time that he used it this season. i learned that you have to keep all the safety equipment near you in a floating case. we had everything but we didnt have time to get them. the mobile and hand held radio in a floating pocket and the most thing i am sure is the most important is a distress beacon. when you switch it on all the boats and ships with radar will know that it is a distress call and will come to save(hopefully). i told the story a million times today at work all wanted to know what happened. everyone me you werent afraid of big fish. i told them no there are no big fish in the sea. dont worry after that experience i will continue to go fishing. tomorrow for alungi (if the gaffer left something) and than deep-sea finshing.

skip

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the update, I was shocked too by the article as usual badly written and lacking the true facts. I was thinking that it had to be a thru-hull fitting to take you down so quickly, something was installed correctly.

The distress beacon or EPIRB are extremely expensive pieces of equipment, though there is a slightly cheaper version for coastal waters, like a personal EPIRB, I forget what they are called but also expensive. For use at night a very cost effective device is a flashing strobe beacon which is used to attract attention.

Completely pathetic that they said they went to the area but found nothing, shows a lack of professionalism to me and I wonder whether they thought it was a 'hoax' call or something similar and were told to go have a quick look which it seems is all they did.

Keep us posted.

Skip

fishfinder

Hello Mark,

I just read the news and I'm really shocked cause I was fishing all the weekend and didn't even tried to go back home.

Thank god all of you came out of it without injuries and alive. Unfortunately Yes, the authorities in Malta lack of experience. These days the tuna fishfarms and the their trawlers are saving more lives than our patrol boats which they spend more time going round Filfla or to inspect your boat.

Speak again to the authorities cause this is a real shocking issue and they could have sent the helicopter by night as they do when there are illegal imigrants reported.

F***en B**tards

Kaptan Leisure with Suzuki DF115 4 stroke

benri

Hi Mark.
Thank God you're ok after that nightmare. I just cannot believe how you were left stranded when you actually gave your position and informed that you were taking in water! Unbelievable & disgraceful if the boat out there was actually a patrol boat - but then again, if it wasn't where were they?....
I just hope someone high up with a concience is reading this thread in the forum.
I'd rather be fishing.....

skip

I was just reading the online replies to today's article on timesofmalta.com and frankly I find it quite disturbing when you read how some people think! All I can say is I'm willing to bet good money that if they had been in the same situation, they would be reacting in the same way in terms of anger that busu's is going through. Yet they happily praise the AFM and state from the comfort of their chair how you should have done this, and had that etc! In an emergency with only seconds at hand, you hardly tend to have a clear mind.

I encourage you all to post your own comments on the times of malta site http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080623/local/sunken-boat-survivor-complains-of-botched-rescue-operation

Click on the button at the bottom of the article on the right hand side. You need to put in all the information which somebody checks, but only your name is displayed when the comment is posted.

sirena

#14
First of all thank god you're all alive.


secondaly reading the messages dropt  on the times left me in shocked ,i should say shame to those  whom instead of comfort our friend they just issue statements pointing out possibilities and probabilities .i just ask ,could the afm operation took much longer searching  and on a larger scale (radius cos of the NW drift ) as the do with immigrants?, who knows!!!!!  .

let us be practical can any one  tell me who uses a boat  and whilst driving ,wearing a life jacket  and holding a flare !!!!!!!! (reffering to the messages on the times)
always want to fish.... why.... cos fun ux!!!