At half past six yesterday morning, Falmouth Coastguard received a distress call via Inmarsat satellite communications from the tanker Toledo Spirit.
The Toledo Spirit made a mayday relay call reporting that they had sighted a vessel on fire in a position 120 miles south south west of Lagos, Nigeria. They confirmed in their message that they were proceeding to the vessels position to render assistance.
At ten minutes past ten they sent confirmation to Falmouth Coastguard that they had rescued twenty one crew from liferafts. The rig supply vessel Brago rescued one survivor from the water and recovered four bodies, three people including the master are still unaccounted for.
The crew had come from the MV North Sea, an18000 metric tonne product carrier in ballast that had possibly been struck by lightning in an electrical storm and had caught fire.
Colin Sturman, Area Operations Manager, Falmouth Coastguard said:
Search and Rescue facilities are very limited in this part of the world. We strive to provide a service to the mariner both within our waters and also to anyone in distress internationally utilising the technology that we have available to us. Any distress call received by us through whatever means will be coordinated until taken over by a nearer Rescue Coordination Centre.