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Date Published: 04/10/2022
ARCHIVED - Nine people rescued from ill-equipped boat taking on water adrift off coast of Alicante
The skipper, six men and two women were aboard the vessel when the engine failed in "bad sea conditions" near Santa Pola
Nine people and the skipper aboard a boat adrift off the coast of Santa Pola, Alicante, in "extreme weather conditions" had a lucky escape after the engine failed and the vessel began taking on water.
It was later found the boat lacked sufficient life-jackets and emergency flares.
The vessel was spotted a mile off the beach of El Pinet and having taken a beating from fierce waves, water was rapidly entering the hull. Manouvering the boat was critically hampered due to an extreme change in environmental conditions, according to police sources, which caught the skipper by surprise and added to the engine failure, made the return to port far more difficult.
Maritime rescue services were alerted and the Rio Oja patrol boat along with the Red Cross Maritime Rescue boat, based in Santa Pola called LS-Naos, quickly located the vessel which was flying the Polish flag.
On board along with the skipper were six men, all Polish except one who was Spanish, as well as two women, also Polish. Thankfully, the Guardia Civil and Red Cross managed to tow the boat to Santa Pola safely without any injuries, although a couple of passengers were treated for anxiety.
Once on land, officers discovered the boat was only carrying four life jackets, when it should have had one for each passenger. In addition, it was not carrying the required number of flares to be able to emit distress signals; it's compulsory to carry three flares when navigating in this type of coastal area.
Image: Guardia Civil
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