54 people in an inflatable boat were rescued by a merchant ship, the Star Toscana, yesterday (Tuesday) after it started sinking 96 kilometres from Fuerteventura, in an emergency operation coordinated by Maritime Rescue.
All occupants of the rib managed to get safely on board the Star Toscana, including two men who fell into the sea when the freighter crew were helping them, but they managed to stay afloat by clinging to the remains of the pneumatic boat.
Rescue services started looking for the small boat after they made a distress call with a satellite phone to the Tarifa Coordination Centre in Cádiz on Monday.
This SOS led Maritime Rescue to ask all ships en route through that area to be vigilant, a notice to which the Star Toscana, a freighter of almost 200 metres in length that was heading from Gibraltar to Brazil, responded to.
The crew received instructions to stay next to the inflatable, which was already adrift and sinking, to wait for a rescue ship to arrive, unless something unforeseen happened, which it did as the boat started to sink quicker.
The crew of the Star Toscana managed to rescue everyone on board using two life rafts, including the two who had been out of sight for a few minutes after falling into the water, until the Salvamar Ízar rescue boat met them.
Following this, the 49 men, 4 women and one child were taken to the port of Gran Tarajal in Fuerteventura arriving at around 10:50pm last night, where they were might on dry land by the Red Cross and medical personnel.
