HAMILTON, Bermuda, Sept. 29, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nordic American Tankers Limited ("NAT" or "the Company") announced today that one of the Company's vessels, the Nordic Passat, performed a rescue operation, involving 150 people in the Mediterranean last Saturday afternoon, September 27, 2014. The refugees were in a wooden boat with engine trouble. Nordic Passat was in an area South East of Sicily when it got involved in the rescuing of the refugees and brought them to Augusta in Italy this Monday morning. The refugees come from Somalia, Eritrea, Bangladesh, Sudan and Palestinians from Syria and Palestinians from Lebanon. There were 14 children, 19 women and 117 men among the refugees who were in relatively good condition and were given food and shelter onboard the ship.
The rescue operation was completed early this morning Monday September 29, 2014 in Italy. Nordic Passat is now on its way to load crude oil in Libya. There is a crew of 23 persons onboard.
Commented Herbjørn Hansson, the NAT Chairman & CEO: "The Captain and his crew performed first class seamanship in accordance with the best maritime traditions to save lives in distressed situations. They all deserve a lot of credit. The incident shows that all links in the NAT organization did function very well in this situation".
Contacts:
Scandic American Shipping Ltd
Manager for:
Nordic American Tankers Limited
P.O Box 56, 3201 Sandefjord, Norway
Tel: + 47 33 42 73 00 E-mail: nat@scandicamerican.com
Herbjørn Hansson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Nordic American Tankers Limited
Tel: +1 866 805 9504 or + 47 901 46 291
Gary J. Wolfe
Seward & Kissel LLP, New York, USA
Tel: +1 212 574 1223
Press release (PDF): http://hugin.info/201/R/1859443/651559.pdf