SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 4th August (EUROPA PRESS) –
Three fishermen were rescued by Maritime Rescue on Sunday while adrift in a rubber boat 320 miles (515 km) from the coast of El Hierro, according to sources from the public organisation who notified Europa Press.
The distress call came in at around 1:15 am, when the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Tenerife was alerted that a group of friends had set out for a fishing trip three days earlier near El Hierro and were now lost at sea.
Shortly after receiving the call, the maritime controllers were able to establish communication with the boat using a satellite phone. The occupants confirmed that they were indeed adrift and unable to seek help as the SOS button on their phone was malfunctioning and they had no credit. However, they had a charged battery and the means to recharge it.
Providing their coordinates of being 320 nautical miles southwest of La Restinga, the controllers scoured the area for vessels and managed to establish contact with the vessel ‘Xin An Ning’ at 03:30. This vessel, en route to the Dominican Republic, was then diverted to the location of the rubber boat, just 47 miles away.
By 09:00 hours, the ship reported a successful rescue of the three individuals onboard the inflatable boat, all in good health. They were taken aboard the ‘Xin An Ning’, which resumed its course towards the port of Río Haina in the Dominican Republic.
