Oct 6
Last night as we pulled away from Samoa, the captain came onto the ship PA system. At 9pm he said they had received a Mayday distress call from a ship on the other side of the island and that we would be going to assist them post haste.
An hour and a half later we arrived on the scene and Brenda and I scanned the rough waters looking for possible rafts of survivors. A second vessel from France arrived as well. I found an internet news story that reported a New Zealand Naval vessel had struck a reef and the crew of 78 were already in life rafts. From our deck we saw red flares go off in the distance. Eventually the crew was rescued both by land and by the French ship.
In the early morning our ship left the scene to continue our journey to the next stop in Fiji. The latest news is that the New Zealand vessel is listing and smoke pouring out the side. We were glad to know that our QE2 was able to be close by and of assistance. It was especially significant because of the rough seas surrounding us and realizing that could have been us needing help.
