27 seafarers were saved by the Royal Navy after the Grande America, a general cargo ship, caught fire in the Bay of Biscay on March 11, 2019.
According to a statement, the rescue effort by the HMS Argyll took approximately eight hours after a fire began in the Grande America’s cargo of containers 150 miles southwest of the French port of Brest.
.@HMS_Argyll received a mayday from the container ship Grande America which was on fire. Watch what happened next. https://t.co/OUZkqAAPR5 pic.twitter.com/Oqa9qoZZlO
— Royal Navy (@RoyalNavy) March 11, 2019
The HMS Argyll was on its way home to Plymouth after nine months away in the Asia-Pacific region and responded to the vessel’s mayday call.
All 27 crew members were crammed aboard a lifeboat as the HMS Argyll extinguished the blaze, as the above video shows. They were then brought aboard and no injuries have been reported.
On February 28, 2019, the Italian coast guard, the Guardia Costiera was called upon to save 18 seafarers after another cargo ship, the HALA B, caught fire in the Adriatic Sea just three miles from the port of Chioggia, a story PTI reported on.