Turkish media have revealed a miraculous escape for a seafarer lost from a container ship for 20 hours.
The unnamed Ukrainian chief officer fell from the 2,468-teu MSC Nadriely (built 1998) off the coast of Turkeli overnight on 30 August.
The Liberia-flag vessel is owned by Chartworld of Greece and operated by MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company.
The sub-panamax boxship was heading to Istanbul from Poti in Georgia when the accident occurred.
The DHA website reported that search and rescue efforts began when the alarm was raised.
Other ships joined in the hunt for the officer, as well as Turkish coast guard planes and vessels.
The man was spotted 20 hours later by Marshall Islands-registered owner Yaf Shipping’s 6,600-dwt general cargoship Moonlight (built 2008).
Footage showed the chief officer being brought on board by the crew.
A photo then shows him sitting on the deck in a t-shirt, underwear and socks, with a towel wrapped around him, examining one of his hands.
Turkey’s general directorate of maritime affairs said in a statement: “As a result of the search and rescue efforts initiated upon the notification that the officer…could not be found, the missing personnel was found alive at sea by the commercial ship Moonlight and referred to the hospital.”
Rescues at sea are rare after that amount of time in the water. The seafarer was fortunate the incident happened at the end of a long hot summer.
