International maritime cooperation saves 19 lives

International cooperation successfully saved 19 distressed crew members, including 18 Chinese nationals and one Vietnamese national, in African waters on Wednesday.

At around 10:00 pm on Tuesday, the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center of the Ministry of Transport received a distress call from the shipowner of the Panamanian bulk carrier APOLLO TRIUMPH. The vessel, carrying 19 crew members, caught fire in the cargo area in the central waters off the Mozambique Channel in Africa.

The crew members abandoned the ship and boarded life rafts, meaning they could not be contacted. The incident took place approximately 100 nautical miles from the coast, with a water depth exceeding 2,000 meters. Moreover, it was nearly 6,000 nautical miles away from Sanya, South China's Hainan province.

Upon receiving the distress call, Minister of Transport Li Xiaopeng immediately called for enhanced communication with relevant departments and other countries, urging them to make every effort to rescue and safeguard the lives of the crew members.

The China Maritime Search and Rescue Center promptly activated the emergency response mechanism for overseas maritime search and rescue. They coordinated the maritime search and rescue centers of nearby coastal countries such as Mozambique and Madagascar to dispatch forces for the search and rescue operation. They swiftly contacted nearby vessels, instructing them to rush to the scene at full speed to assist in the search and rescue operation. Additionally, they reported the critical situation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the member units of the National Inter-Ministerial Joint Conference on Maritime Search and Rescue, and relevant China's State-owned enterprises such as COSCO Shipping, requesting their cooperation in coordinating the deployment of necessary resources.

After multiple coordination efforts, the merchant vessel AS CHRISTIANA arrived at the scene at approximately 2:00 am on Wednesday and successfully rescued all 19 distressed crew members from the life rafts.