According to Italian media reports, the incident occurred late on Monday evening. A 75-year-old man and his 73-year-old wife wanted to call at the harbour of San Foca on the eastern tip of Italy. The two were travelling on the "Cristina D". The vessel was apparently a Beneteau Oceanis 40 CC.
Near the small harbour, they ran aground on rocks that experts refer to as "Li brigantini". They lie in the northern bay, and many harbour handbooks warn against overlooking them when approaching San Foca, especially at night. It was precisely this mistake that probably proved fatal for the German couple.
More dramatic maritime emergencies:
Rescue from fatal situation only possible by helicopter
After they had run aground on the rocks and their boat had turned onto its port side, the Germans used signalling devices to draw attention to themselves. However, due to strong gusts of wind and the swell directly on the coast, the emergency services, who were quickly on the scene with a coastguard patrol boat, were unable to intervene and rescue the two pensioners. Francesco Walter Di Marco, Commander of the Otranto Coastguard Maritime Office, explained: "In a situation like this, many assessments have to be made and it is important to proceed quickly and in the safest way for rescuers and those rescued. In this case, it was clear from the outset that a rescue by sea would entail unacceptable risks for all involved, so air transport was requested, which was the only viable solution given the prevailing weather and sea conditions".
Accordingly, a helicopter was alerted to pick up the two German citizens. An HH-139 A made its way from the 84th SAR Centre in Gioia del Colle to the scene of the accident. At 2.33 a.m., a rescuer was able to lower himself from the helicopter using the cable winch and ensure that the rescued men were pulled up into the helicopter. In total, the HH-139 A mission took just under one and a half hours. Back at the helicopter base, the German couple, although apparently healthy, were taken to a local hospital for examination.
The helicopter mission in the video:
As reported by the Berliner Morgenpost, two other yachts with German crew members on board got stuck in the harbour entrance to San Foca. They are said to have run aground in a shallow area around 100 metres from the shore and had to be towed free by the coastguard.
