Azores Situation Report Wednesday 27th March 2024
Three crew members from a sailing boat rescued off the Azores.
The Portuguese Navy rescued three crew members from a Dutch-flagged sailboat, which was adrift 771 nautical miles south of the island of Santa Maria.
According to a statement from the Portuguese Navy, through the Ponta Delgada Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre, “the rescue of three crew members of the sailing ship ‘Norwegian Queen’, flying the flag of the Netherlands, was carried out over the weekend, which was found itself adrift, due to breakdown, four days ago, 771 nautical miles, approximately 1430 kilometres, south of the island of Santa Maria”.
It was the crew who contacted the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Madrid, which passed the case on to the Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre in Ponta Delgada.
The Navy reports that two merchant ships were sent to the location and the three crew members were rescued by the ship “Stena Carron”, on Sunday, at 2:07 pm.
According to the Navy, the crew members “were in good health and are now on board the ship that rescued them, which continues its journey to Guyana, in South America”.
Arrested suspected of murder of foreign citizen on the island of Faial.
On Monday 25th March , the Judiciary Police, through the Azores Criminal Investigation Department, arrested the alleged murderer of a 49-year-old Cape Verdean citizen, who died following a physical attack at a nightclub in the city of Horta, Faial island, in the early hours of Sunday.
According to a statement from the Judiciary Police, the crime occurred in the context of a “violent argument involving several people, during which the now detained person, an employee of that establishment, allegedly punched the victim, a 49-year-old man, leaving him the unconscious.”
The victim was rescued and transported to Horta Hospital, “where death was declared at 5:30 pm on Monday”.
The PJ also says that the 23-year-old detainee will be brought before the judicial authorities to apply coercive measures.
Search ends for Indonesian crew member off the island of São Miguel
On Sunday, the Portuguese Navy ended the search for the Indonesian crew member off the island of São Miguel who fell into the sea last Friday.
According to a statement, the Portuguese Navy said that through the Ponta Delgada Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC Delgada), it conducted a search and rescue action for an Indonesian crew member of the fishing vessel ‘Garcia Miguel’, who fell into the sea while fishing was underway, approximately 345 miles, the equivalent of 639 kilometres northeast of the island of São Miguel.
The corvette António Enes, sent by the Portuguese Navy, began a search and rescue action at 1:18 pm on Friday.
For 41 hours, even with “adverse weather conditions that were felt at the location”, the vessel moved to the area of operations, with the ship carrying out “searches in the area in addition to the search effort carried out by other merchant ships, under coordination of MRCC Delgada”, indicated the Navy in a statement.
The corvette António Enes remained at the location in search actions for 14 hours longer than the limit for survival of human life at sea, depending on the temperature of the sea water at the location and the environmental conditions observed.
The search for the man ended at 1pm on Sunday, when it was considered “totally impossible” to find the injured crew member alive.
However, the Navy indicates that the warning to navigation will remain in force, alerting all ships and vessels crossing the area to remain alert and report any sightings to the MRCC Delgada.
In addition to the Portuguese Navy, the fishing vessels “Miguel Garcia” and “Estrela de Ancora”, the merchant ships “NIGJING HAI”, “Monte Brasil”, “Euronike”, “OOCL GUANG ZHOU”, “Caribbean Loyalty” were involved in the searches. , “New Haven”, as well as the Navy and Air Force assets on a mission in the Autonomous Region of the Azores, respectively, the NRP António Enes and a C-295 aircraft, from the Portuguese Air Force.
In total, ten units were committed, and searches were carried out in an area of 1600 square nautical miles, approximately 5487 square kilometers.