Geeez, but news travels fast these days. All thanks to the power of online media and its empowering of citizen journalism real-time news reached the WildWeb office that a 150-metre ocean vessel had run aground about 20 kilometers north of our offices. Being a team of surfers, yachtsmen and general lovers of the ocean we naturally jumped in a cabbie and headed north to witness the excitement unfold.
According to a press release posted a few moments before writing this (released hours after people facebooked and tweeted it) the ship, named the Phoenix, was reported to have lost its engines and dragging anchor in 5 metre seas – thanks to the blizzard we are currently experiencing in Durbs. The anchor line snapped putting the vessel at the Indian Ocean’s mercy. They hit rock bottom – literally – at around 10am this morning, at Christmas beach, and was subsequently being battered senseless by triple overhead waves.
We arrived at the scene around 12-o’clock, while the rescue operation was underway. We made our way down the bluff and onto the beach to witness the emergency services take action. Because of the high seas, the rescuers decided to shoot a zip line from the bow of the vessel towards the shore. We presume that they were going to foefie-slide the petrified seamen to the safety of the beach. Ironically the Phoenix was en-route to India to be scrapped. It now looks like the scrapping will be done smack bang in front of some of KZN’s most luxurious beachfront real-estate.
Below are some of the images we captured thanks to WildWeb’s professional sharp shooter, Ettiene Koenig. The not so clear images were shot in the driving rain from the rest of WildWeb’s cell phones. Enjoy…