NSRI
An Iraqi sailor who was evacuated from a bulk carrier has died in a Port Elizabeth hospital.
The National Sea Rescue Institute said that its Port Elizabeth duty crew and Eastern Cape Government Health EMS were activated by Transnet National Ports Authority on Saturday morning.
This followed a report that the 52-year-old crewman on board the ship, sailing from Cape Town, was suffering an emergency medical condition, but not Covid-19 related.
NSRI spokesperson, Craig Lambinon, said that the sea rescue craft Spirit of Toft was launched accompanied by an EMS rescue paramedic and rendezvoused with the ship seven nautical miles East of Cape Recife off the PE coast.
He said the EMS rescue paramedic and an NSRI rescue swimmer were transferred onto the ship and the patient was found to be in a critical condition.
Lambinon said the crewman was transferred to the rescue craft and brought to shore where an ambulance rushed him to a local hospital.
“Despite extensive efforts by hospital medical staff, sadly the patient passed away,” Lambinon said.
