On the late morning of January 15, the 23 meter long fishing vessel Santa Anna Maria (MMSI: 228185800) ran around in the Bay of Biscay near Les Sables-d’Olonne, France. The gillnet  fishing vessel had suffered a technical fault while heading to Vendée to unload its catch. The Santa Anna Maria went adrift before it was driven ashore on the rocky shoreline. The Santa Anna Maria sustained significant damage with the hull holed when it ran up on the rocks.

French authorities were alerted and began a coordinated rescue operation. With heavy seas and high winds made rescue by sea difficult. The SNSM vessel Canotier Jacques Joly was deployed but was unable to assist in rescuing the 7 crew on the Santa Anna Maria. A Dragon 17 helicopter was dispatched from La Rochelle and would arrive on site. The helicopter would hoist all 7 crew off the fishing vessel and safely transported to Grande Plage. No reports of injuries.

Local firefighters would arrive on site and establish a safety zone around the grounded vessel. The focus for firefighters and salvage efforts were to first contain and remove fuel. Heavy equipment was brought on site to remove contaminated sand while efforts to empty the diesel fuel from the ruptured tanks on the fishing vessel.  Reports state that 20 tons of fuel had been pumped off the Santa Anna Maria.

An inspection of the Santa Anna Maria found the vessel too far damage to be refloated and returned to the sea. Instead, the fishing vessel will be moved up the beach, dismantled and scrapped on site.