A frantic few hours and a dramatic rescue in rough waters involving a fishing trawler based out of Riverport.
The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax confirms after a mayday call was issued due to a fire onboard the Atlantic Destiny all of the 31 crew members have been lifted off the vessel.
The emergency call was received around 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday night.
The vessel was adrift roughly 120 nautical miles south of Yarmouth after it lost power and began taking on water.
Rescue crews battled dangerous conditions throughout the night with high wind gusts and eight metre seas – not to mention brutally cold temperatures.
In a release from Ocean Choice international, as of approximately 8:00 a.m. Wednesday morning, the final four crew members and two Search and Rescue technicians, have been safely transferred from the vessel and are enroute to Shelburne.
As of 8 am this morning, all remaining crew of the FV Atlantic Destiny have been safely transferred off the vessel onto the CCGS Cape Roger. The Cape Roger will remain on scene to monitor the vessel.
— HfxJRCC_CCCOS (@hfxjrcc) March 3, 2021
No injuries are being reported and everyone is accounted for.
Ocean Choice, the owners of the Atlantic Destiny, will work with the proper authorities and an investigation to determine cause of the fire will commence over the coming days.
The company is unsure of the extent of the damage of the vessel.
The Atlantic Destiny harvests frozen sea scallops; and Riverport is the port of call for the vessel.
