A Panamanian sailor and a Filipino sailor have both died of suspected Malaria, shortly after being airlifted off the Eastern Cape coast to a hospital in Durban.
The NSRI East London reports that it was alerted late on Wednesday afternoon of two crewmen urgently requiring evacuation of the bulk carrier Agios Fanourios, sailing from Abidjan to Durban.
It was some 92 nautical miles off East London at the time, necessitating that a SAAF 15 Squadron Oryx helicopter from Durban be scrambled to fly out to the vessel.
NSRI paramedics flew out on the helicopter which rendezvoused with the bulk carrier late on Wednesday night, some 13 nautical miles off-shore of Port St Johns on the Transkei Wild Coast.
The two sailors, both aged 53, were in a critical condition by the time they were airlifted off the ship.
It was later confirmed that CPR efforts had been conducted in a Durban hospital on both patients - but doctors had been unable to save them.
