May 7, 2012
On April 23, 2012, while enroute from Japan to Singapore, Teekay’s MV Galway Spirit received an urgency call from the MV Zante, a nearby container vessel.
The Zante advised that 32 miles had passed since their junior engineer had last been seen onboard. A search area was established and the Galway Spirit quickly moved to cover the area.
For more than five hours, the Galway Spirit crew aided in the rescue operation, positioning three lookouts on deck and all available crew on the bridge.
Although the Galway Spirit intercepted anything spotted – including debris, buoys and even a whale – there was no sign of the engineer. At approximately 8:00pm, in complete darkness, the Galway Spirit transited the established zone. With heavy hearts, the Galway Spirit crew formally ended their search.
To the crew’s complete delight, on the morning of April 24, Singapore Port Operation Control Centre advised that the engineer had been found and was safe after having spent 20 hours in the water!
The master of the Zante thanked the Galway Spirit crew for “their dedication to the safety of life at sea and unprecedented unity in helping a fellow colleague in distress.“