Nordic Passat Rescues 150 off Sicily

Nordic American Tankers Limited’s vessel the Nordic Passat performed a rescue operation involving 150 people in the Mediterranean last Saturday afternoon, September 27, 2014. The refugees were in a wooden boat with engine trouble, the company said in a release.

Nordic Passat was in an area South East of Sicily when it got involved in the rescuing of the refugees and brought them to Augusta in Italy on Monday morning, September 29..

The refugees are from Somalia, Eritrea, Bangladesh, Sudan, Syria and Lebanon.

There were 14 children, 19 women and 117 men among the refugees who were in relatively good condition and were given food and shelter onboard the ship.

The rescue operation was completed early Monday morning, September 29, 2014 in Italy. The Nordic Passat is now on its way to load crude oil in Libya. There is a crew of 23 persons onboard.

Herbjørn Hansson, the NAT Chairman & CEO, said: “The captain and his crew performed first class seamanship in accordance with the best maritime traditions to save lives in distressed situations.

They all deserve a lot of credit. The incident shows that all links in the NAT organization did function very well in this situation.”