Indonesia: Superyacht Sinking Sparks Global Search

HM Coastguard in the UK was among the agencies joining an international search operation last night (Friday 22 November) after a superyacht sank off Indonesia.

At 9.08pm Friday 22nd November, HM Coastguard in the UK received a call from the Australian maritime authority, (JRCC Australia), who had in turn received a HF DSC Distress from what initially appeared to be a UK registered vessel named Asia.  

Investigations started by searching all relevant databases for contact details for the vessel but the vessel was not found to be on the UK Register.  

Coastguard coordinators in the UK are able to monitor beacon alerts globally and had noticed that a US registered EPIRB, (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) had been activated in approximately the same area as the HF DSC Distress.

The UK Coastguard had made contact with the skippers wife to confirm the HEXID number on the beacon that was carried on board the vessel.  She confirmed that this was attributed to the Malaysian registered sailing vessel Asia, which was on passage to Thailand with four people on board, including two British citizens and contact was then made with the Malaysian authorities, to inform them of the incident for their coordination.

At 5 am this morning, following extensive investigation work by the UK Coastguard, contact was made with the skipper who confirmed that the vessel had sunk off Indonesia after hitting an object in the water, but all four crew had managed to get on board the RHIB tender they were carrying.  They discovered that they were 55 nautical miles north of an island off Indonesia and they started to head towards the nearest point of land.  They were met by Marine Police at Bima and the crew are safe and well and receiving assistance.