National headquarter for search and rescue at sea (MRCC Rijeka) reported to the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure of Croatia on undertaken activities of towing of a foreign passenger ship named „Aurelia“, which suffered a malfunction of one of the two diving machinery on the position nine-mile south of the island of Žirje in Croatia.
Ship Aurelia was sailing from Port of Ancona to Port of Split and it was scheduled to sail in Port of Split today at 7.00 am LT.
This morning (May 9th), at 4:30 am LT, MRCC Rijeka was informed by the commander of the ro-ro passenger ship 'Aurelia' about the overheating of a single ship power plant. Thanks to the continuous communication with the Ship, all passengers and crew members were reported to be safe, and no rescue from the Ship was requested.
The representative of the ship owner in Croatia - company MSC Cruising - is undertaking all necessary operations for rowing the ship back to the harbour, while the MRCC Rijeka and all relevant port authorities keep supervising the implementation of activities in accordance with the regulations on the rescue of the sea.
In coordination with the Harbourmaster’s office Zadar and the Port Authority Zadar, the ship's representative hired the tugboat, who has sailed at 15.00 hrs to the "Aurelia" and started towing ship to the mainland.
According to official prognostic data, the calming of conditions is expected, and, at 4:30 pm LT, MRCC Rijeka has received confirmation that the tug boat had securely sealed the passenger ship and that the operation towards the Port of Split is on its way, as planned.
According to the available information, the 148-meter long passenger ship "Aurelia”, which regularly sail between Ancona (IT) and Split (CRO) under the flag of Cyprus, has 215 passengers and 92 crew members. The ship is carrying 2 buses, 51 passenger vehicles and 7 trucks. No one was hurt or injured.
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