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| Corsica. Captain in second megayacht sinking |
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; "Land's End")
| Wednesday, 10 August 2005 | |
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Marian Martin As reported earlier on the General News, the 49 metre, 400 tonne yacht Land's End has gone aground off the Corsican coast. This is an update. The vessel had been on an overnight passage from Cannes to Corsica. The incident occured at about 10.30 yesterday morning, on the St Joseph reef, in the Gulf of Sagone, about 1 nautical mile from the Corsican coast. Shortly after the grounding, due to water ingress the yacht sank by the bows, but the stern remained high and dry on the reef. The 13 crew and 12 Portuguese charter guests were taken off by the SNSM lifeboat SNS116 and The Gendarmerie Nationale vessel G7202, the evacuation was complete by 1400. The Land's End was leaking oil and diesel and the préfecture maritime, after taking advice from local experts, called various vessels to the scene: the tug Abeille Flandres, which was making a stopover in Bastia; the Gendarmerie patrol boat La Gravona, based at Agaccio and the anti-pollution vessel Ailette from Toulon. The préfecture also officially advised the owner's agent of his obligations to ensure that the vessel ceased to be a threat to the environment. A local firm was called in to make the first investigations of the condition and stability of the Land's End and most of the escaped oil and diesel was cleaned up, using absorbent tissues. ; "Image") The Abeille Flandre arrived in the evening and, together with the Gravona, is standing by the stricken yacht. The Ailette arrived, from Toulon, this morning and is also standing by, with an anti-pollution barrage as a precaution against the vessel leaking further amounts of oil or diesel; it is carrying 70 cubic metres of fuel. The possibility of pumping out the tanks and/or refloating the Land's End are being discussed with the owner.The Land's End was built by Scheeps-en Machine Fabriek in 1965. Her captain, Chris Jones, was skipper of the 44 metre yacht Shiralee, which sank of Puerto Rico in Fenruary 2000. The Land's End story as it has unfolded: Holed megayacht threatens Corsican beach August 10 Tug standing by stricken megayacht August 10 Captain in second megayacht sinking August 10 Land's End holed in four places August 11 Land's End salvage contract signed August 12 Land's End sinks completely August 12 Captain Jones charged August 12 French naval divers to assess sunken megayacht August 13 Land's End tanks to be pumped out August 15 Land's End Captain was Designated Person Ashore says Gaspard YachtsAugust 16 First officer on bridge says Land's End Captain; pumping tests successful; MAIB preliminaryAugust 16 Fuel being pumped from the Land's EndAugust 16 View pictures of the Land's End |
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| Last Updated ( Sunday, 28 August 2005 ) |
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