South Sea Towage Ltd completes rescue of 18 seamen and salvage vessel which ran aground in a Lakeba reef

South Sea Towage Limited has completed a major operation in the Lau Group to rescue 18 seamen and salvage a fishing vessel which ran aground on the Aiwa Reef in Lakeba without any resulting damage to the reef environment.

The salvaging operation for the fishing vessel LU RONG YUAN YU 559 lasted 23 days, requiring a team of 39 specialist sailors, divers and engineers.

They responded to a request from the vessel owners to salvage their vessel on October 12th, with crew and four tugs were dispatched from the Suva base to the reef site the next day.

Salvage Master Pita Duituturaga says upon arrival at the reef site, the SSTL crew found the fishing vessel aground hard on the reef with 18 seamen.

He says the seamen were rescued first and salvage works began after assessments and constant monitoring by the crew’s divers and engineers which included the removal of over 180 tonnes of weight from the fishing vessel by hand.

Duituturaga says rough seas put a stop to salvage works over a number of days and it was after 23 days that the fishing vessel was finally able to be excavated using four tugs.