Nigerian Navy rescues Cameroonian fishing vessel

The Nigerian Navy (NN) has rescued a Cameroonian fishing vessel that drifted off its course last month.

The vessel, MFV AFKI, drifted off its course with two crew members on board on October 24.

The Director of Naval Information, Commodore Adedotun Ayo-Vaughan, said in a statement on Monday in Abuja, that the Nigerian Navy received a distress call about the missing vessel on November 1.

He said information received from the Netherlands Embassy in Nigeria revealed that the vessel was heading to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) after it left Bangul in Gambia when it drifted off course.

The spokesman added that the vessel while in transit suffered depleted fuel to her propulsion engines which resulted in her drifting off the coast of Sao Tome and Principe into Nigeria’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

Ayo-Vaughan said: “Unfortunately, all efforts by the vessel owners to trace its location for possible rescue proved abortive.

“However, further surveillance revealed that the last known location of the vessel was about 72 nautical miles from the Nigerian coast.

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“Consequently, the NN swiftly deployed Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) DORINA at its Maritime Domain Awareness facilities for Search and Rescue Operation.

“Accordingly, on November 17 at about 20:00 hours, after frantic surveillance by the deployed NN platform, NNS DORINA traced and made contact with the vessel, 17 nautical miles off Pennington terminal.

“Due diligence was made to ascertain the status of the vessel and was discovered that it had no incriminating items onboard and was subsequently towed to Escravos in Delta.

“The NN Forward Operating Base in Escravos took custody of the fishing vessel for further administrative procedures in preparation for handover to the Netherlands Embassy.

“The NN wishes to use this opportunity to once again reassure seafarers and indeed other maritime operators of its commitments to collaborate with local and strategic partners and allies.”

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