Salvamento Marítimo rescued five tourists, rescued five tourists, who were in the water clinging to a surfboard, on the morning of 27 July at 9am. Apparently, the boat they were on was wrecked due to the rain and the occupants remained in the water for around 20 hours until they were rescued. The castaways, a 37-year-old Frenchman, two women, a Spanish woman aged 35 and a Spanish-Brazilian woman aged 41, and two other men aged 30 and 35, “were discharged after being treated”, as none of them were seriously injured, according to the Ibiza and Formentera health department.
Emergencies 112 issued the warning, at around 8:30pm on Monday, about the lack of news of a small boat named ‘Kahos’, with 5 people on board. “As there had been a downpour we began to issue emergency alerts to warn sailors in case they saw the boat,” explains Miguel Chicon, head of Maritime Rescue in the Balearic Islands.
Moments later, they mobilized the Helimer 205 helicopter, based in Palma, and the ‘Salvamar Acrux’ vessel. “We have been looking for it all night, with night vision goggles, between Santa Eulària and es Freus because the occupants’ idea was to spend the day in that area,” explains Chicón. However, the search was unsuccessful. The ‘Guardamar Polimnia’, based in Sant Antoni, set off early in the morning to “search the area to the west if the Freus had passed”. The vessel ‘Salvamar Acrux’ was also mobilised to search the area, in case “they were adrift”, as well as a Guardia Civil patrol. “In the meantime, we continued to send emergency announcements to other sailors”. At 9am this morning, a fishing boat called ‘Cap Nono’ spotted them. “They called us instantly and told us that the boat was keel up [capsized] and the occupants were clinging to a paddle surf board,” continues the head of Salvamento Marítimo de Baleares. The trawler took the tourists on board and the vessel ‘Salvamar Acrux’, which was very close by, transferred them to the port of Ibiza. The wrecked boat is now in Talamanca where a shipowner is taking care of the repairs.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.