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Two ships collide off the coast of Colombia, 35 evacuated
01/29/2009 Source:Translation: RusNavy.com
Two coasting vessels collided in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Colombia, leading to the evacuation of 35 passengers and crewmembers to shore, a local radio station reported on Wednesday.
“The collision occurred on Wednesday at 2:30 a.m. local time (10:30 Moscow time) 30 nautical miles south of the Colombian port of Buenaventura. The Costa Azur, a wooden boat, was seriously damage and almost completely sunk. The boat was loaded with 100 tonnes of wood. Twenty passengers, including 12 children, were on board, in addition to the crew. All of them were evacuated by a motor boat of the Colombian Navy that was cruising nearby,” Mario Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Colombian Navy, said on the air of the radio station.
According to the official, in the panic following the accident, some of the passengers suffered light injuries and were treated in hospital before been released.
The boat remains half-immersed in water, and measures are being taken to tug it to shore. The other boat involved in the collision, the Cristian Andes, is bigger and more sophisticated, and it was loaded with produce and fuel. It escaped from the incident almost unscathed and after the end of rescue operations was allowed to continue on its course.
An investigation into the collision has been launched. Preliminary conclusions seem to indicate that the reason behind the collision was careless handling of the ships in night conditions by both captains and failure to take adequate safety measures. The captains will be questioned shortly.
Ships such as the two that collided are used to transport people and cargo along the Colombian coast.