An injured crew member of a 332-meter long very large crude carrier (VLCC) DHT Lotus was medevaced on Friday night, August 17, 2018, while the vessel was passing along the South African coast.
A 38-year-old Indian crewman had to be medically evacuated to a hospital for an eye injury sustained from unknown causes, South African Sea Rescue Institute said.
Goodwood Shipmanagement, managers of the VLCC DHT Lotus, said in statement to World Maritime News that an “Indian fitter complained of irritation of his right eye on August 14, caused by a foreign particle. As attempts on board to remove the particle were not successful, the Master took the prudent decision to have the seafarer evacuated to shore as the next port of call was to be China.”
The ship was fully laden and heading for Singapore at the time.
NSRI Port Elizabeth duty crew were activated by the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) and sent a sea rescue craft Spirit of Toft to rendevouse with the ship, some 12 nautical miles South of Cape Recife.
The operation was conducted in challenging weather conditions and heavy sea swells of 3 to 4 meters, Sea Rescue said.
“The patient, in a stable condition, was secured into a safety harness and transferred onto the sea rescue craft Spirit of Toft. The transferring of the patient onto the sea rescue craft took 45 minutes in the heavy sea state and the patient was transferred onto the sea rescue craft safely and without incident. The patient was brought into the Port of Port Elizabeth and he has been transported to hospital in a stable condition,” NSRI added.
According to the vessel’s managers the seafarer stayed at a hotel waiting to clear immigration on August 18.
“He was not admitted to a hospital and on August 19 took a flight to Bombay where the company doctor removed the foreign particle and declared the crew member fit for duty. He is now at home and will re-join the vessel off Singapore in the first week of September,” the company said.
The 2001-built VLCC, owned by DHT Holdings, continued its voyage toward Singapore, based on its latest AIS data, where it is supposed to arrive on September 3, 2018.