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Real cases
Even we hope that no one will ever be forced to use it, but we know that, unfortunately, there is a possibility that one day we will have to make use of the life raft.
Fortunately, and within the bad, we still have some real cases that show that the obligation to carry properly checked rafts on board is not a whim but a matter of life or death.
Let’s review some of the best known:
Duarry raft saves lives of 13 people from a sunken yacht off the coast of Miami
A DUARRY life raft and a jet ski were the tools with which rescue teams were able to pull out the thirteen people aboard a yacht that sank last Monday night, January 25, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States. Fortunately, there were no injuries among the six passengers, the six crew members and the captain of the Serena III, a 106-foot vessel.
The emergency call was made before 6 p.m. on Monday, reporting that the vessel was beginning to fill with water. About two hours later the yacht had completely sunk. The events took place 13 miles offshore, a relatively close distance that facilitated the rescue, said Tim Morgan, a marine rescue captain.
The causes of the accident appear to have been mechanical problems, although the Coast Guard is still investigating.
This is the account of the events broadcast by CBS Miami:
(VIDEO MISSING IN ORIGINAL WEB)
https://ausmar.com/index.php/es/las-balsas/casos-reales.html
And this is the video of the rescue, provided by the U.S. Coast Guard:
Four fishermen, rescued from a life raft
The Safrán, based in the Lugo port of Celeiro (Viveiro), sank on Saturday night about 35 miles off San Sebastián. Four of the six crew members were rescued by a nearby fishing boat, Os Merexos, which picked them up from the life rafts they managed to jump into when the Safrán flooded, capsized and was left bow to the sun (although it was finally swallowed by the sea).
The four rescued men from the Safrán arrived at the Cantabrian town “well” from a physical point of view, but “very distressed and worried” due to the “very difficult” circumstances they experienced after the sinking of the boat.
Shipwreck in Vigo
The five survivors of the ‘Mar de Marín’, four crew members from this town in Pontevedra and a biologist from Ferrol, managed to get into a life raft after the impact with the merchant ship ‘Baltic Breeze’ that caused the sinking of the ship in a few minutes, at the entrance of the Vigo estuary.
During the transfer to their homes, around 5.00 a.m., the survivors, “dejected and very frightened”, reported that “everything happened very quickly”. “Very soon after the impact, the ship capsized,” according to the shipowner. While the five of them managed to get on a raft, the other five “missed” the fall into the water, they said.
https://www.farodevigo.es/mar/2014/04/01/supervivientes-abatidos-asustados-17244673.html
1976: the most tragic beginning of the year
Christmas had been perfect. The voyage was uneventful, until December 30 arrived. That day did not go unnoticed, at least for the ship’s 32 crew members. Three explosions took out the then largest cargo ship in the world in just three minutes. The 315-meter long and 50-meter wide ship was left underwater, with only two survivors: Imeldo Barreto and Epifanio Perdomo.
The two Tenerife natives were shipwrecked in a life raft hoping that one day they would be found. After 20 days adrift, they were rescued on January 18, 1976. Today, 38 years later, the story is brought back to life by Víctor Calero, director of the documentary Los náufragos del Berge Istra, and in memory of all those who died on that ship. It is a project not to leave in the past what Imeldo and Epifanio will always remember.
The solitary navigator
Solo sailor Steven Callahan was shipwrecked in 1982 while crossing the Atlantic Ocean on his way to Antigua. The “Napoleon Solo” was a self-designed and self-built boat of only 6.5 meters in length. On January 29, during a small storm, the ship suffered a collision with a whale which led to the “Napoleon Solo” inevitably sinking in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Before the ship sank, Callahan had enough time to inflate the life raft and get some emergency equipment on board.
The life raft, aided by the trade winds and the South Equatorial Current, traveled more than 1,500 miles across the Atlantic Ocean for 76 days of pure survival. On April 20, 1982, she managed to make out the horizon of Marie Galante Island, southwest of Guadeloupe, and with the help of a fisherman was finally able to reach land.
66 days of survival
American couple William Butler and Simone Butler saw their 38-foot vessel “Siboney” sink on June 15, 1989 1200 miles southwest of Costa Rica after colliding with a pod of whales at night.
Bill and Simone Butler were able to survive aboard their life raft for 66 days. By rationing the food on board they were able to feed themselves for the first 30 days, the rest they had to survive on raw fish, a turtle they caught with their bare hands and three liters of water a day which they were able to do thanks to their portable watermaker. 66 days later Bill and his wife were rescued by a Costa Rican patrol boat only 13 miles offshore.
