Seafarer with burn injuries evacuated from ship off WA coast

A seafarer has been medevaced after suffering serious injuries onboard a Dutch multipurpose vessel, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said.

The vessel, identified as the 18,100 dwt Dolfijngracht, was travelling to Port Hedland and located approximately 1,850 km off the Western Australia coast in the Indian Ocean when the seafarer sustained serious burns.

From the initial call on Saturday evening to the successful medical transfer of the seafarer to hospital, the AMSA Response Centre, located in Canberra (ACT), coordinated the multiagency medical evacuation.

“For this evacuation, we used the Tele Medical Advice Service (TMAS) to assess the crew member’s condition and then I was able to task the AMSA Perth Challenger Jet to air drop specific medical supplies to the ship,” James Fryday, AMSA Response Centre Duty Manager, said.

“At the same time, we requested assistance from the Australian Defence Force which tasked the Royal Australian Navy with a planned ship-to-ship medical evacuation.”

The Royal Australian Navy deployed two senior doctors, a nurse and three other medical staff aboard MV Besant, operated by Serco Australia, to support the medical evacuation.

On 17 November 2020, the navy personnel boarded the vessel and provided medical assistance to the injured seafarer.

The vessel arrived into Fremantle on 18 November 2020 and the injured seafarer was successfully transferred to hospital for treatment.

The 2009-built Dolfijngracht is owned by the Netherlands-based shipping company Spliethoff.

“Spliethoff would like to thank the crew of AMSA’s RCC for the great support during this intervention,” the shipping company said in a separate statement.