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The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and two Good Samaritans rescued 13 people off the coast of Virginia on Friday after their fishing vessel collided with a 1,000-foot container ship and began to sink, officials said.
The crew of the Tremont, a 115-foot commercial fishing vessel, sent out a mayday call around 2 a.m. from approximately 63 miles southeast of the offshore island Chincoteague, the USCG said.
The crew said their vessel collided with the 1000-foot Panamanian-flagged container vessel, MSC Rita, and were abandoning the sinking ship.
USCG boat and helicopter crews responded to the area, along with two Good Samaritan vessels, the research vessel Atlantis and motor vessel Drystan.
Two Good Samaritan vessels assisted in the rescue. (U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City)
The Atlantis launched a small boat to ferry 12 members of the Tremont crew to the Drystan. The USCG helicopter crew hoisted the vessel’s captain from the sinking ship.
The Coast Guard and Good Samaritans rescued 13 people from the 115-foot fishing vessel, Tremont, Oct. 28, 2022 after the fishing vessel and a container vessel reportedly collided 63 miles southeast of Chincoteague, Virginia. (U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City)
All 13 crewmembers of the Tremont were safely rescued with no reported injuries. (U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Coast Guard Station Chincoteague)
“Safety of life at sea is the Coast Guard’s top priority,” said Capt. Jennifer Stockwell, commander of Sector Virginia. “These are the life-saving missions for which we train each and every day. While this morning’s events were unfortunate, 13 people were rescued from an extremely perilous situation. The combined efforts of Good Samaritans and Coast Guard response assets demonstrates a selfless commitment to others.”
|IMO Company Number|[6015389]IMOCompanyNumber=6015389)|
|Nationality of registration|United States of America|
|Address|36, Central Avenue, Lakeville MA 02347-2018, USA.|
|Company status|Active||!
Container ship MSC RITA collided with 35-meter fishing vessel TREMONT at around 0000 LT (UTC +5) Oct 28 some 95 nm NE of Norfolk, USA, while proceeding from New York to Charleston. Fishing vessel sank, all 13 people on board were rescued, MSC RITA according to track, turned back after collision and took part in SAR. She resumed voyage 4 hours later, ETA Charleston Oct 29.
Container ship MSC RITA, IMO 9289116, dwt 100870, capacity 8089 TEU, built 2005, flag Panama, manager MSC.
Fishing vessel TREMONT, IMO 7037894, GT 621, built 1970, flag USA
I remember seeing TREMONT and her sistership OLD COLONY at Boston Fish Pier when they were new (early 1970s). The biggest and most modern Boston trawlers at that time.
Hopefully, we will hear more about the circumstances leading to the collision. It will be interesting to see if the captain and mate were properly licensed. The good thing is no loss of life or injuries.
Tremont’s AIS signal was not received by commercial tracking services during the period in question, and it was last picked up in 2021. Though the reason is not known, it is common for U.S. coastal fishing vessels to operate without AIS.
As soon as photos of a large dent in the side of the Rita are published, the story will be fleshed out a bit.
Note that the photo of the Tremont sinking shows a perfectly squared off bow just about to go underwater.
I don’t think the investigation will take long.
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