Sea-Stellar

The Crew of 19 of the "Sea Stellar" has saved the lives of two Philippines fishermen from their sinking raft in the South China Sea off Manila on Nov 7, 2015. Captain Teerawut Thaipakdee diverted his vessel to save the two men as soon as they were spotted about 45 miles off the shore. Several other vessels had passed them by, either seeing them and ignoring them or not seeing them, waving in the water. By that time of the rescue at 5 p.m., their improvised raft was barely afloat, well below sea level. The men had no hope of staying alive once the raft sank. Once safe on board the "Sea Stellar" after being dropped a dinghy and a rope ladder, the two fishermen revealed their nightmare. The pair had suffered from prolonged exposure to the sun, and they were probably accurate in their assessment that their raft would not have kept them above water into another day. Their boat had sunk on Nov 5. The "Sea Stellar" diverted towards Manila and organised a rendezvous with a boat from the Philippines capital, putting the two on board before continuing on the voyage to Japan. Report with photos: http://phuketwan.com/tourism/dramatic-photos-show-thai-ship-saving-lives-men-sinking-raft-23562/