A foreign cargo ship with 21 crew members on board has been towed to safety in the Pearl River estuary by a Chinese professional rescue ship after it broke down off the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea on March 3. At 2:20 pm, the Panamanian cargo ship suffered a main engine failure 120 nautical miles southwest of Wan’an Tan in China’s Nansha Islands.
The engine could not be repaired on the site, and the ship had drifted 90 nautical miles southward by the time the report was received. The ship had 21 crew members on board but was not carrying any cargo. Upon receiving the report, the Nansha maritime search and rescue center sent the large marine rescue ship “Nanhai Rescue 115” to undertake the operation. After nine days of efforts, the ship was successfully towed into the waters of the Pearl River estuary, having covered a distance of nearly 1,100 nautical miles, overcoming unfavorable conditions such as strong winds, high waves and deep water.
Source: Hellenic Shipping News
