Fishing Boat on Fire

1645hrs 14 October the fishing vessel Marconi made a May Day call reporting that their vessel was on fire and they were abandoning ship.  The Maritime NZ Rescue Coordination Centre called for assistance and 3 fishing vessels headed to the scene with an estimated arrival time of 60 minutes.  Coastguard West Coast also heard the call and rang RCC  at 1715 estimating their arrival time to be around 1800.

Doug Giffin the Skipper of Ivan Talley Rescue says “we had a head on scea with a 1 to 2 metre swell, but quickly settled down to around 29 knots”.  After leaving they spotted the local rescue helicopter passed them heading out.  The helicopter spotted the crew in a life-raft and plactic fish crate and the fishing vessel Ocean Odssesy arrived soon after picking up the crew.  “Ocean Odssesy asked us to take the rescued crew onboard and and return them to Greymouth” says Doug, “The Marconi crew wanted to wait and see if the Marconi would sink so we stood by for 2 hours.   By the time we left the area the Marconi was still afloat by 3/4 was on fire and parts were burnt down to the water line.  I would be surprised if she stayed afloat.”  The crew were uninjured and returned safely to Greymouth by Coastguard.