A cargo ship off the coast south of Sydney reportedly became out of control in wild weather and an emergency rescue operation is underway to save the crew onboard.
Per Nine News, the Portland Bay container vessel lost power and became adrift just off the coast of the Royal National Park around 9:30am Monday morning after leaving Wollongong at about 7:30am.
It’s floating approximately a kilometre from the coast and is feared to be on course to crash into the cliffs on the shoreline south of Wattamolla.
The ship PORTLAND BAY is moving around too much in rough seas and weather conditions are now too bad for rescue helicopters to fly. Will be towed away by tug boat. Non-essential crew to be rescued by tug. @9NewsSyd pic.twitter.com/MCbVG0OHnk
— andrew rickert (@_rockrit) July 4, 2022
Multiple helicopters from Polair, NSW Police, local Toll rescue helicopters and a military chopper flew in to assist with the rescue. However, the current weather conditions are too bad and the ship is moving around in the rough seas to airlift the entire crew to safety.
A tugboat is now working to help the boat and a secondary tugboat is en route to help pull the cargo ship to sea, but won’t arrive for at least two hours.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said the State Government is doing all it can to help rescue eight non-essential crew from the boat, and confirmed that a larger tug is now on the way from Port Botany.
“It is obviously a very precarious position and our thoughts are with those on board,” he said.
More to come.
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Image:
Nine News / MarineTraffic.com
