An Iraqi sailor has died after being rescued off the coast of Port Elizabeth.
Emergency personnel were called out to a ship at sea, after one of the crew took ill. The incident was not Covid-19 related.
On Saturday morning, the NSRI Port Elizabeth duty crew and local emergency services were called to rendezvous with a bulk carrier motor vessel approaching Port Elizabeth from Cape Town. Onboard a 52-year-old Iraqi crewman was suffering an emergency medical condition, Port Elizabeth NSRI station commander Justin Erasmus said.
“The EMS rescue paramedic and an NSRI rescue swimmer were transferred onto the ship and the patient was found to be in a critical condition.”
The man was transported to land, and then to a hospital in Port Elizabeth.
“Despite extensive efforts by hospital medical staff, sadly the patient passed away,” Erasmus said.
