Galapagos Tourist boat RUMBA capsizes

BOAT: RUMBA
CLASS: TOURIST

The Rumba is a tourist class motorized yacht, accommodating ten guests in five double occupancy cabins, each equipped with private facilities w/c, shower and A/C. Departure dates for 5 and 8 day cruises starting Sundays and Thursdays.

BREAKING NEWS (JULY 3, 2010)

Wave Flips Tour Boat Off Galapagos Islands; Danish Man Dead, Other Tourists And Crew Safe

ORIGINAL SOURCE: EL COMERCIO
ORIGINAL LINK

A Danish tourist of 61 years passed away, after the accident suffered by the Tourist boat M/Y Rumba offshore from Port Villamil (Isabela Island) in the Galapagos Islands. The mishap occurred last night (july 2nd 2010), around the 21h00 (22h00 mainland Ecuador time [GMT-5]) and this afternoon, around the 15h00 the body was recovered.

According to the Galapagos National Park Authorities (PNG) report, the mishap occurred when the boat was realizing part of its itinerary off the southeast coast of Puerto Villamil (Isabela Island). At the time of the incident 7 tourist were aboard, along with 5 crew members.

More than 25 Park Ranger of the National Park and personnel from the Headquarters of Port Villamil participated in the search and rescue of the Danish passenger along with the recovery and removal of the debris. A discharge of fuel from the baot was ruled out.

The passengers were rescued by another boat nearby and all remaining passengers and crew are in good health and they were transfered to a local a hotel. The Ministry of Tourism is currently assisting passengers.

And addition source (El Universo) mentions the following addition facts:

The remaining six passengers aboard were two Irish, two Israelis and the wife and daughter of Nils (the 61 year old Danes that lost his life), also of Danish nationality.

The incident apparently occurred after a large wave struck the small wooden boat, Rumba, causing it to capsize. The boat is completely destroyed.

3-6 DICIEMBRE	8
6-10 DICIEMBRE	7
10-13 DICIEMBRE	9
13-17 DICIEMBRE	5
17-20 DICIEMBRE	7
20-24 DICIEMBRE	5
24-27 DICIEMBRE	7
27 -31 DICIEMBRE	8

Cormorant II (aka Galapagos Journey II) has sunk ..

The tourist boat Cormorant II (aka Galapagos Journey II), with licence no.TN-01-00-226, suffered mechanical damages while navigating near Punta Flores, on the north coast of Isabela Island. Aboard were 14 passengers and 8 crew members.

The Galapagos National Park patrol boat, Guadalupe River, was realizing a relief of personnel at the Bolivar Canal base (Isabela Island) when they received a distress call from the Cormorant II at aproximately 02h30 today.

The National Park park rangers immediately made their way to the site and successfully rescued all passengers and crew members, but the strong currents and waves that have been present in the past few days in the archipelago completely destroyed the catamaran, losing all material, documents and equipment that was aboard.

The crew members of the Guadalupe River provided first aid to various passengers that required minor attention. All the rescued individuals were transfered to the Itabaca Canal (north point of Santa Cruz Island) where they were received by the cruise operator.

Representatives of the Galapagos National Park will conduct a survey of the possible environmental damages, as at the time of the incident, the catamaran was carrying 1000 gallons of fuel in her storage tanks. The representative of the Cormorant II, Ángel Gustavo Villacís, will need to execute the necessary guarantees and mitigation procedures.

Original source (in Spanish) from El Comercio: http://ww1.elcomercio.com/noticiaEC.asp?id_noticia=307762&id_seccion=8

Cormornant II sunk