Red distress flare sighted off Mtunzini Main Beach
NSRI crew investigated, checking outstanding ski boats at Richards Bay and Mtunzini boat clubs and a empty boat trailer was found at Mtunzini
At 11pm last night (Thursday), NSRI Richards Bay duty crew were alerted by public members of a red distress flare sighted off Mtunzini Main Beach.
NSRI crew investigated, checking outstanding ski boats at Richards Bay and Mtunzini boat clubs and a empty boat trailer was found at Mtunzini
The trailer was unmarked but we managed to get contact details and a phone number from Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife rangers at the gate for the skipper and vessel name.
We were unable to make contact with the skipper via VHF Marine radio communications or by cell phone. We managed to get the skipper’s wife contact number and she confirmed that they were fishing off Mtunzini
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The sea rescue craft Spirit of Richards Bay was launched to investigate if the crew on the boat related to the red distress flare.
Following a search off-shore of Mtunzini Mouth at 02h00 the fisherman on their boat were found fishing 2 nautical miles off-shore
The skipper confirmed that everything was OK and they had only been monitoring Marine VHF channel 11 and that their cell phone battery was almost flat but they had not seen or set off a red distress flare.
NSRI returned to Port and the operation was completed at 04h00 and the red distress flare activation remains a mystery.
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