Fire ignites on supply vessel off South Africa's Western Cape province; all on board rescued

Fifteen sailors were successfully rescued off South Africa’s southern Cape seas after their offshore supply vessel (OSV) caught on fire and had to be abandoned on Thursday, September 12.

The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) said the Marshall Islands-flagged OSV AM Pride caught on fire early (local time) on Thursday, in an ocean area approximately 48.5 nautical miles south of Mossel Bay in the Western Cape province.

Local authorities first learned about the incident at around 10:30 on Thursday after the Maritime Rescue Coordinating Centre (MRCC) at the SAMSA Centre for Sea Watch and Response in Cape Town received a call from state-owned oil and gas company PetroSA advising that AM Pride had fire on board near an offshore platform and required immediate assistance.

The OSV's entire 15-strong crew later evacuated into a waiting liferaft and were eventually rescued by a PetroSA helicopter. Due to its limited passenger capacity, the helicopter needed to make two trips to the incident site to rescue all 15 survivors.

No injuries have been reported.

An initial investigation revealed the fire had ignited in the OSV's mess and quickly spread to the other compartments, prompting the crew to abandon ship.