Photo credit: Indian Navy / Houthi strike on the 2018-built Marshall-flagged ship Marlin Luanda.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) presented the 2024 IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea to the captain and crew of the oil tanker Marlin Luanda, for containing a fire after the ship was struck by an uncrewed aerial device, and also to the captain and crew of the tugboat Pemex Maya, for their rescue of six shipwrecked persons from four different vessels, during a hurricane.
Also recognized at the awards ceremony was captain Ian Finley, this year’s recipient of the prestigious International Maritime Prize. The International Maritime Prize is awarded annually by IMO to the individual or organization judged to have made a significant contribution to the work and objectives of the Organization.
The first recipients, the captain Avhilash Rawat and the crew of the oil tanker Marlin Luanda, nominated by the Marshall Islands, for their extraordinary courage, determination and endurance demonstrated while coordinating firefighting and damage control efforts to combat the fire that broke out after an uncrewed aerial device struck their vessel.
The Marlin Luanda, on the evening of January 26 carrying 84,147 tons of Naphtha, was en route from Suez to Incheon when it was attacked. The explosion ignited a cargo tank, creating a significant fire hazard with flames exceeding 5 meters.
Photo credit: Indian Navy / Houthi strike on the 2018-built Marshall-flagged ship Marlin Luanda.
Despite the damage, captain Avhilash Rawat swiftly organized firefighting efforts, ensuring the crew’s safety and maintaining the ship’s navigability amidst the chaos.
With the starboard lifeboat destroyed, the remaining crew mustered at the port lifeboat station, ready for potential evacuation.
Despite the extreme danger and the constant threat of further attacks, the crew fought the fire using fixed foam monitors and portable hoses.
The fire continued to spread, particularly affecting an adjacent tank, but the crew managed to contain it using seawater after foam supplies were exhausted.
After four and a half hours fighting the fire on their own, assistance arrived from the merchant tanker Achilles, and later from the French frigate FS Alsace and the United States frigate USS Carney, which provided additional firefighting foam and support, followed soon after by the Indian warship INS Visakhapatnam.
The fire reignited multiple times. The situation remained critical, and expert consultations suggested abandoning the vessel.
However, captain Rawat and his crew persisted. The turning point came when professionally trained firefighters from the Indian Navy boarded the ship.
They managed to get closer to the fire and their efforts, combined with those of the Marlin Luanda crew, finally succeeded in extinguishing the fire and sealing a significant hull breach. Twenty-four hours after the attack, the Marlin Luanda sailed to safety under naval escort.
The second recipients, the captain Jorge Fernando Galaviz Fuentes and the crew of the tugboat Pemex Maya were nominated by Mexico, for their outstanding courage, seamanship skills and resolve displayed in the rescue of six shipwrecked persons from four different vessels, in extreme weather and heavy seas caused by a hurricane.
Hurricane Otis struck on 25 October 2023 Mexico’s Pacific coast as an unprecedented category 5 storm.
It rapidly intensified from a tropical storm to a major hurricane in just a few hours, hitting Acapulco with winds exceeding 300 km/h and waves over 5 meters high.
During the peak of the hurricane, the crew of the Pemex Maya remained vigilant, searching for survivors amidst the chaos.
At 02:30 hours, they navigated towards light signals from three people in lifejackets fighting the turbulent waters and managed to rescue them carrying out complex rescue manoeuvres in darkness.
Shortly after, they rescued another survivor, who was found clinging to a piece of wood without a lifejacket.
Continuing their rescue efforts, two more shipwrecked persons were spotted an hour later adrift with lifejackets.
The crew had to execute again risky manoeuvres to rescue them with the help of lifebuoys. All six survivors were found to be in shock, exhausted, and suffering from bruises and scratches but fortunately without life-threatening injuries.
At dawn, with the worst of the hurricane over, the Pemex Maya anchored in Acapulco and the survivors were later transferred for medical attention.
