It reported that four navy strike craft sailed from Durban while 15 helicopters and two aircraft carrying medical supplies left Swartkops and Durban air force bases to help with the rescue operation.
Private citizens had also offered their aircraft and vessels to help with the effort.
Though our report, published the day after the sinking, referred to fears that some people had been washed away “by the powerful Agulhas current”, it was later established that all 581 passengers and crew had survived.
East London has had its fair share of ship disasters right on its own shores. Our files report on:
The 17000-ton container ship Safmarine Agulhas which on 26 June 2006 washed onto the East London harbour wall. All 22 members of the ship’s crew were brought ashore after it was established the vessel could not be saved when it ran aground after losing engine power as she was exiting East London for Durban.
On 7 June 2005 the bulk carrier Kiperousa was grounded and all attempts to get it off the reef between Hamburg and Bhira proved fruitless. Our story on 8 June talked of the cargo, valued at around R200m of 9000 logs which were being transported to Durban. The captain and 24 crew were transferred to the SA naval survey ship, the SAS Protea, late at night and taken to East London.
On 18 July 2002 the grain carrier Sagittarius ended up on the rocks off Leaches Bay, shortly after it ran aground.
A look back in history: The wrecks that litter our shores
Plenty of ships have sunk off East London and the adjacent Wild Coast
The Daily Dispatch’s files contain more than their fair share of shipwreck stories, though given East London’s location alongside the treacherous waters of the Wild Coast, it’s not all that surprising.
More than 230 shipwrecks are said to dot these shores and though we don’t record all of them in our files, our coverage of some of the shipping disasters has filled many pages of this newspaper.
The best known is probably the ill-fated Greek luxury liner Oceanos, which had left East London packed with holiday makers and heading for Durban. However, it ran into trouble in heavy seas and high winds off Coffee Bay on August 4 1991.
On the front page of the Daily Dispatch on August 5 we carried the story headlined “Rescued!” which told of how more than 550 people had been saved from the sinking cruise ship, in what was said to be the “biggest and most successful SA sea rescue since World War 2”.
“Both the South African Air Force and Navy launched a huge rescue operation to bring passengers and crew ashore,” the article said.
It reported that four navy strike craft sailed from Durban while 15 helicopters and two aircraft carrying medical supplies left Swartkops and Durban air force bases to help with the rescue operation.
Private citizens had also offered their aircraft and vessels to help with the effort.
Though our report, published the day after the sinking, referred to fears that some people had been washed away “by the powerful Agulhas current”, it was later established that all 581 passengers and crew had survived.
East London has had its fair share of ship disasters right on its own shores. Our files report on:
The 17000-ton container ship Safmarine Agulhas which on 26 June 2006 washed onto the East London harbour wall. All 22 members of the ship’s crew were brought ashore after it was established the vessel could not be saved when it ran aground after losing engine power as she was exiting East London for Durban.
On 7 June 2005 the bulk carrier Kiperousa was grounded and all attempts to get it off the reef between Hamburg and Bhira proved fruitless. Our story on 8 June talked of the cargo, valued at around R200m of 9000 logs which were being transported to Durban. The captain and 24 crew were transferred to the SA naval survey ship, the SAS Protea, late at night and taken to East London.
On 18 July 2002 the grain carrier Sagittarius ended up on the rocks off Leaches Bay, shortly after it ran aground.
In August 1974, hundreds of city residents lined the shore to watch as the freighter SA Oranjeland carrying 38 people was wrecked on the rocks off the Esplanade.
Tugs were sent out to help the Oranjeland, but this was to no avail.
In a similar dramatic disaster also witnessed by hundreds of East Londoners in December 1937, the Stuart Star, carrying 15 passengers and 93 crew members, ran aground below the Hood Point lighthouse.
The vessel had been trying to find the entrance to the harbour when the lookout shouted that he could see surf. Shortly afterwards, the ship ran onto a reef parallel to the shore.
The ship could not be freed from the reef despite attempts by tugs from the East London harbour, and the wreck became a landmark for many years.
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