Crew onboard Salmones Magallanes’ “Río Frío” were quick to the rescue.
Salmon workers onboard the wellboat “Río Frío”, which provides harvest services to Salmones Magallanes in Puerto Natales, Chile, helped rescue sailors who were left stranded after their boat sunk on Tuesday, reports Chiloe Radio Mix on Facebook.
The wellboat was able to reach them in 20 minutes after a distress call was made. The crew of Río Frío managed to help three navigators on the Valdés channel in time, whose boat, in a matter of minutes, sank due to a bad maneuver.
“At about 12.25 we heard a distress call. The one who was very desperate, only told us to rescue me, I am in the Valdés channel, we are sinking …. and we did not know anything else,” said Juan Patricio Sánchez, captain of the “Rio Frío”. Fortunately, the wellboat was only 20 minutes away from the wrecked vessel.
Once they arrived at the Valdés canal, “the vessel was missing only to sink completely, there were the three (crew) standing on the last thing that was afloat of the ship,” said Sanchez.
After the rescue, they had to sail for three and a half hours to Puerto Natales. The salmon crew who gave the men a change of clothes and hot food to help them recover from the shock.
Once the boat was completed in Puerto Natales, the fishermen were transferred by the authorities to the city hospital. After 17.30 on Thursday, the three fishermen were discharged from the Augusto Essmann Hospital and sent to their homes.
