It was an ominous day that turned into a glorious one for the crew on board the NEYA III, a Platform Supply Vessel owned and operated by Slok Nigeria Limited. The Neya III crew delved into dangerous waters to save the lives of the lucky 10 crews aboard the fuel tanker MT SANTA MONICA which caught fire in Nigerian territorial waters on Saturday, July 12, 2014.
THE CITIZEN reliably gathered that the captain of the Slok vessel, an officer of the watch (OOW) on duty aboard the NEYA III, received a distress call on the VHF radio and immediately the raised the alarm to commence search and rescue operations.
“The tanker was quickly located and carefully approached as the fire fighting system on board the Neya III was activated to quench the fire on the burning tanker. The Neya III crew went further to rescue their fellow sailormen from the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean as the latter panicked and jumped off the burning ship,” said the source.
When contacted by our correspondent, the Managing Director of Slok Shipping, Engr. Firas Abboud, who confirmed the incident said: “This is not the first time we offer rescue services and will not be the last as that is the norm for any vessel complying with IMO regulations, and this is what we trained for.
That is why we equip our vessels with the latest Life Saving Appliances and man them with competent and highly experienced Nigerian hands in order to meet industry standards and class/statutory regulations.
“I am happy we were able to save lives, this is a major boost for local content development and an attestation to the resilience and professionalism of our guys.
“I salute our courageous team who were fearless in putting off the fire that gutted the ship. They were also privileged to get the chance to rescue the full crew on board MT SANTA MONICA”, he added, pointing out that it was a manifestation to demonstrate Slok Group’s corporate commitment to excellence in service delivery by Nigerians for Nigeria.
