On September 10, the 25 meter long fishing vessel Twilight PZ330 (IMO: 8816039) caught fire while berthed in Newlyn Harbour, Cornwall, United Kingdom. The fire started in the vessel’s galley and quickly got out of control. The Falmouth Coastguard was alerted and requested the RNLI lifeboat from Penlee to respond. The lifeboat arrived on scene and began firefighting efforts with multiple sea hoses. A short time later the Penzance fire brigade arrived on scene and continued the fire fighting efforts from the dock. A crewman from the Twilight had escaped the fire, but had suffered smoke inhalation requiring him to be taken to hospital. After an hour the blaze was completely extinguished. The extent of damage to the vessel was not reported.
On September 7th, Super Typhoon Yagi, also named Tropical Storm Enteng in the Philippines, made landfall in Vietnam as a Category 5 storm. Yagi had winds over 160 miles per hour when it struck the Vietnam coast near Quang Ninh. The storm surge and large waves quickly impacted vessels anchored in the port Tuần Châu in Quảng Ninh. Many vessels had been securely moored prior to the storm landing, but many vessels were swamped by the waves. Crews did attempt to pump out the water ingress, but they were unable to save the vessels which sunk by the stern.
Reports say over 30 vessels damaged or sunk by the Typhoon. Here is a partial list of vessels impacted by Super Typhoon Yagi:
Passenger Ship Victory Star, QN-8899 capsized by strong winds and partially sunk off Ha Long.
Passenger Ship Hai Ninh, 48 QN-6108 sunk by the stern at Tuần Châu.
On August 31, the 81 meter long, 2600 dwt fishing vessel Tokatu (IMO: 9816153) became disabled in a storm on the Tasman Sea off Burnie, Tasmania. The Tokatu had suffered breakdown in the engine control resulting in the loss of maneuverability. The vessel requested assistance with two tugs from Burnie responding. The two tugs arrived on scene a few hours later and was able to get a towline over to the Tokatu. No reports of injuries to the 45 people on the vessel, damage or pollution released.
