Ship Run Aground On Rainbow Beach?

[Tailortaker]

I just caught the end of a news flash and thought I heard them say that a ship has run aground on Rainbow beach. Has anyone heard about this???
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[Derek Bullock]

NZ-built ship runs aground on Queensland beach

1:18PM Thursday August 23, 2007


An Indonesian tall ship bound for the Apec meeting in Sydney has run aground in heavy seas on a beach in south-east Queensland.
The 35-metre KRI Arung Samudera was due in to Brisbane tomorrow, and was to join six other tall ships in Sydney on September 2 to mark the start of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) leaders' week.
The ship was originally built as a fast and luxurious sailing yacht in New Zealand.
Eighteen crew members - all Indonesian naval officers - were located today at Rainbow Beach near Gympie, north of Brisbane.
The condition of the sailing vessel, which has grounded on the beach, is not known.
"It is not a search and rescue," sad a spokeswoman for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
A Queensland police spokeswoman said the men were being assisted at Rainbow Beach police station.
"We are just making them comfortable until arrangements can be made for them to continue their journey," she said.
Local man Bob Elmer told ABC radio he found the men on a road behind the beach, wet and shivering but looking relaxed.

The men told him they were Indonesian and were travelling from Cairns to Brisbane when their boat broke down.
"There were about a dozen people standing on the road and from what I could understand - and I'm not real good at listening to Indonesians talk - they said they were coming from Cairns to Brisbane and broke down and washed up on the beach," Mr Elmer said.
"We've just been trying to organise the police and the SES to help."
Queensland's southern coast is being lashed by huge seas and high winds whipped up from a low pressure system, which is moving slowly north.
Arung Samudera has been sailing the high seas with a crew of 20 navy personnel from various provinces in Indonesia.
The sailing vessel was built in 1991 and is now owned by the Indonesian Navy.

[Derek Bullock]

http://www.knmi.nl/~koek/images/Arung_pic.jpg

[SeaHunt]

Inskip Point I heard , I can't find any pictures yet.
Pretty good going getting getting that thing over the wide bay bar and onto the beach in 30 knot winds.

[Nowhere Bob]

I'm suprised Bob Elmer didn't charge them a landing fee.
For the history search for posts on the Inskip - Hook Point barge fight.

If they were inside I taking of my hat to them.
I'd only heard radio reports of On Rainbow Bch.
Made me guess they were sheltering behind DI & dragged anchor.

[Nowhere Bob]

From Yahoo 7 news site

A woman who helped Indonesian sailors after they ran aground on a south-east Queensland beach says she at first feared for her safety because one had a gun.
Eighteen naval officers from the 35-metre sail training ship KRI Arung Samudera, startled Christine Foote when they appeared on a beachside road near her home at Inskip Point on the Sunshine Coast on Thursday.
The vessel had been due in Brisbane on Friday and was to have joined six other tall ships in Sydney on September 2 to mark the start of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum leaders week.
Ms Foote was the first to spot the damp sailors, all wearing life jackets and at least one of whom was carrying a gun.
"I was coming up from Inskip (Point) and saw a bunch of people on the side of the road," Ms Foote said.
"When I got up close I realised I didn't know who they were - whether they were boat people or sailors or what.
"I saw a gun, so I didn't stop and went straight to the police station."
But there were no officers at the police station so Ms Foote said she went around the town organising locals to follow her in their vehicles back to where she had found the Indonesians.
"We piled them all into our cars and got them up to the police station," she said.
"I had some in the back of the car and one of them had a gun.
"I said 'who are you?' and I was asking if they were refugees or fishermen."
The officers did not have good English but Ms Foote believed they meant no harm and needed help.
"I thought they must be hungry and cold so I ran to the local supermarket got chickens and bread and then ran back to the police station and made them coffee and sandwiches and cleaned and dried their clothes at the local laundromat," she said.
Rainbow Beach State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers brought in blankets and the local motel lent towels so they could take showers.
Ms Foote said the sailors said they had struck bad weather on their voyage to Brisbane and then on to Sydney.
"Their anchor didn't hold when they were around near Double Island Point and they drifted and the wind blew them down to where they were at Inskip," she said.
"But now they are all fed and all dry.
"And they didn't use the gun - it looked like it was a hundred years old."
An Indonesian naval attaché was on his way to the men.
Meanwhile, the Australian Navy says it's likely an Indonesian ship can be salvaged on Friday.
Australian Navy Commander Forbes Peters told reporters the salvage operation would be coordinated by the Gladstone Port Authority.
"At the moment it looks pretty good actually," Cmdr Peters said.
"The hull is intact from what we can tell from the beach and it's a nice flat bottomed vessel so it's sitting proud on the beach and should be OK to tow off.
"That will start tomorrow, weather permitting."
He said there were no environmental risks.
One of the sailors, 24-year-old Garmadi, from the Indonesian city of Surabaya, said the crew did not have much time to get off the ship.
He said they retrieved some food, backpacks, cigarettes and rifles before leaving the grounded vessel.
"It was scary," he said.
"We just brought what we saw. We got them and we jumped off the ship."
The rifles are now in police hands.
The men let out a cheer when they saw their mini-bus arrive to take them to their hotel, after spending time at the Rainbow Bay police station.
Cmdr Peters said an Australian Navy contingent had travelled to Rainbow Beach to help "our Indonesian shipmates".
"(We want to) make sure they have got warm food in their bellies, dry clothes, get them into a hotel room, transportation," Cmdr Peters said.
"Then we will help them liaise with our local and state authorities to help with the salvage operation in the next couple of days."
End Snip


Well done Mrs Foote. In fact double thumbs up & an elephant stamp.
Blokes are cold & wet - get them some tucker & warm 'em up. Work out the formalities later.
Makes me feel better than the other "shoot 'em up" thread.

[surf_man]

Bob and Desley Elmer are my neighbours at rainbow beach, Bob drives that inskip road most mornings, very good bloke

not sure where youre coming from in regards to the barge fights/ landing fee statement.

there stuck about 1km south of the bar in the area known by locals as the oaks. shouldnt have much problem getting the boat off from what ive heard.

[rando]

Different story altogether,
Cold wet hungry men from a maritime incident , versus illegal fishermen stealing our national wealth.
Simple really,,, aussies help the unfortunate, and belt the bastards , its what we've always done and what we will always do.

[Nowhere Bob]

Photos taken before lunch yesterday.
:-[