Providence saves

Going through the papers a particular news item caught my eye and reminded me of providence.

It seems a Sri Lankan trawler was detained in South Africa earlier last month after it had docked at a South African port to pick up bunkers.

The ship was scheduled to depart for Sierra Leone, however, after an ad hoc inspection by the South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) the ship was detained because it did not have any safety equipment on board.

The owner argued that such was not a requirement as part of Sri Lankan rules only to be told that at a South African port the ship had to meet South African rules. The owner reluctantly bought the requisite safety equipment and had it installed to be allowed to set sail.



As luck would have it the 57.5 foot fishing trawler, the Deshan Lanka, caught fire en route to Sierra Leone and subsequently sank off the southern Cape coast. The thing is, had Samsa regulations not compelled the owner to purchase the safety equipment all hands would surely have been lost.

Sri Lankan sailors were joyful when found Picture: NSRI

The four sailors on board were able to successfully launch the life raft as the ship sank. Despite a distress call to Samsa before their vessel sank, the sailors were adrift without food or water for three days, before the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), alerted by Samsa, were finally able to rescue them.

The life raft was found 10 nautical miles off the nearest land mass.

Naturally the first thing that comes to mind is that had it not been for the adamant Samsa captain who had inspected the vessel, the four sailors would surely have been lost at sea.

But then surely one cannot completely discount the fact that had the Samsa authorities not delayed the vessel in the first place, perhaps the sailors would have managed to have berthed safely at Sierra Leone with their cargo – and been saved from all the drama!

But I kid.

Talk about providence or at least someone really important looking down from above!