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It is always very concerning to hear of emergencies at sea, but at the same time very assuring to hear that our safety equipment played a vital role in the rescue. An example of such a story took place during a recent fishing expedition in Portugal. On 24th May at 6.00pm, fishing boat ‘Mar e Pesca’ shipwrecked 30 miles west from Peniche port, forcing the full crew of 10 to enter the liferaft.
“Three to four meter waves came one after another and suddenly the boat was flooded and capsized portside” said the master Henrique Santos, talking about the incident. “I was imprisoned inside the cabin with another colleague, while the others had jumped into the sea - my only thought was that I had to save my men. After three attempts, I was able to open the door and leave”.
Fortunately, the vessel was equipped with the best quality safety and survival equipment, including the RFD Surviva liferaft. Santos agrees that the RFD liferaft was paramount to their survival. “The raft was already submerged but I could still release and inflate it, I think it was our salvation. Without the raft we would be dead because the water was freezing. It all happened so fast that we didn’t have the time to launch an SOS. Everybody was grasping to any floating debris and we started to board the raft. We were all very cold and then saw a vessel passing. We launched a flare and the vessel, Italian freighter Letizia Effe turned to our direction and rescued us”.
The liferaft in question was recently inspected at one of our approved service stations, Orey Técnica in Lisbon 2 months previous. This incident further highlights the importance of mantaining and servicing safety equipment to ensure maximum performance in extreme circumstances
For more information on the RFD Surviva please click here