Farmar Arion towed trawler to safety

Text: Sveinung W. Jensen, Tellus Kommunikasjon

“We were called out by the Vardø traffic centre, which had received a mayday message,” says John W. Nilsen, general manager at Farmar.

Two of the crew of four were flown ashore in Norway. The others remained on board the vessel, which Farmar Arion towed to Farsund.

GRIMSTAD TRAWLER Vestfjord was nearly halfway between Norway and Denmark when the distress message came in.

“There was a leak on board. But even before we reached the distressed vessel, one of the helicopters had managed to lower a water pump. So, there was never any danger of the boat sinking,” Nilsen explains.

HOWEVER, he describes tough weather conditions that made the emergency tow challenging.

Through Fædrelandsvennen newspaper, the captain of Vestfjord, Oskar Halldorsson, thanked the rescue crews.

“If they had arrived an hour later, the outcome would probably have been completely different,” he says.

HALLDORSSON explains that the boat was taking on more water on the working deck than they could pump out.

“I realised this could become problematic and quickly made the decision to get the crew up into the wheelhouse, into survival suits, and drop everything else we were doing,” he tells the newspaper.

The working deck is lower than the upper deck, roughly at the waterline. It is where the fishermen bring in the fish, gut it, and manage the catch.