Cargo ship feared sunk off Cape west coast as storms lash province

Concern is mounting about the fate of an abandoned cargo ship last seen adrift about 60NM from Doringbaai on the Cape west coast.

The 18-member Filipino crew of the 124m MV Ultra Galaxy abandoned the listing vessel on Monday in rough sea conditions. The South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) was trying to locate the ship on Tuesday.

“By last night [Monday] we dispatched two tugs to check what is happening and whether it had sunk,” said Samsa spokesperson Tebogo Ramatjie.

The tugs were scheduled to arrive at the ship’s last known location at about 2pm on Tuesday.

“There is a huge risk of pollution because we don’t known what type of cargo she is carrying as she is a general cargo vessel,” said Ramatjie.

The last known location of the vessel is shown on the map in red.

The Filipino crew were discovered floating in a life raft after issuing an alert on Monday night. Two nearby cargo vessels and a fishing vessel responded to their plight. The crew were taken aboard the fishing vessel FV Malachite to St Helena Bay.

The National Sea Rescue Institute said it had been alerted to the incident and was standing by to assist. The Panama-registered MV Ultra Galaxy has a gross tonnage of 10,021.

Meanwhile, a second cold front battered the province on Tuesday, forcing authorities to close flooded roads. 

The Gift of the Givers has distributed 40,000 meals, 5,000 blankets and other humanitarian relief items over the past three days to communities affected by the weather. Project manager Ali Sablay told TimesLIVE on Tuesday they anticipated needing to assist 20,220 people.

“We had to pull additional resources and supplies from our warehouses in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal as our suppliers in the Western Cape could not cope with demand,” said Sablay. “On Friday extensive gale force winds [and rain] flooded nearly 8,000 structures in ward 99, Khayelitsha, leaving about 4,000 people displaced.

“Our teams were immediately on the ground to render humanitarian assistance but the main concern was where to accommodate people as the weather was coming through, so some had to be evacuated to community halls.”

Sablay said after the first cold front surged on Sunday they received calls from across the province for help.

“Many informal settlements reached out to Gift of the Givers, pleading for assistance.”

At least 15,000 people had been affected, according to an assessment on Monday.

Cape Town disaster risk management spokesperson Sonica Lategan said reports of flooding had been received from Khayelitsha, Joe Slovo Park in Milnerton, Sir Lowry’s Pass Village, Nomzamo in Strand, Mfuleni, Driftsands, Masiphumelele, Dunoon and Gugulethu.

“Assessments by the city’s informal settlements management department, assisted by the disaster risk management centre, are ongoing and the number of affected residents is being determined,” said Lategan.

“Assistance rendered to date has included soft relief by the city’s NGO partners, milling material and relocations where it has been feasible to do so.”

“We have more than 70 neighbourhoods in the city reporting badly flooded roads and waterlogged houses, with more than 7,000 structures affected, mainly in informal settlements,” said mayor Geordin-Hill Lewis.

“The rain is still heavy, we have two rivers that have burst their banks — the Eerste and Liesbeek — and we expect in the coming hours several [other] rivers and canals will also burst their banks. We are far from [the end of] this storm."

Gift of the Givers received calls for help from as far afield as Drakenstein, Cederberg, Witzenberg, Mbekweni, Citrusdal and Theewaterskloof.

TimesLIVE