MSC Flaminia is drifting in the mid-Atlantic with a big plume of smoke as seen from passing nearby ships. One of the four wounded crew members has died from heavy burns; the other three crew members were taken to Azores by helicopter. One crew member is missing. There were twenty five people on board, including 23 crew and two passengers.
At 10:07 on Saturday July 14, Falmouth Coastguard received the relayed ‘Mayday’ broadcast from the German registered MSC Flaminia reporting that the crew had abandoned the vessel.
Falmouth Coastguard broadcast an alert to all vessels in the area and the nearest vessel which could provide assistance was the oil tanker DS Crown which immediately changed course to intercept the MSC Flaminia. Six other merchant vessels also proceeded to the location to help with the search and rescue operation but were more than six hours from the location.
Rescue helicopters do not have the endurance required to attend an incident of this nature because the vessel was located approximately 1,000 miles from land mid way between the UK and Canada.
Tradewinds reports that 'It has also emerged that five deficiencies of a non-detainable nature were found on the MSC Flaminia when the vessel was boarded by port state control inspectors in December in Antwerp. One of the deficiencies related to fire prevention provision but NSB Niederelbe is not commenting on exactly what was involved.'
The MSC Flaminia is a large container vessel of 75,590 gross tonnage and had 25 people on board with a crew that includes German, Polish and Filipino nationals. Weather conditions on scene were winds force 3-4 with a one metre swell.