samaritan vessel has safely rescued the crew of the coast guard patrol vessel Isla Santa Cruz, which went down simply after intercepting a smuggling vessel final weekend.

On Sunday night at 1830 hours, the Ecuadorian coast guard vessel Isla Santa Cruz intercepted a semisubmersible smuggling boat off the coast of Salinas, within the neighborhood of the Galapagos Islands. The stealthy vessel had three crewmembers aboard, together with two Colombian nationals and one Ecuadorian. The boat was loaded with about two tonnes of cocaine, in line with native media, and was headed for a transshipment level in Central America. 

While bringing the detainees and the boat again to shore for prosecution, the Isla Santa Cruz sank, and the crew and their passengers safely deserted ship. The SAR coordinating facilities of Ecuador, Peru and the United States Coast Guard launched a joint response to seek out the survivors. Two Ecuadorian Navy ships, one Colombian army plane, and two civilian good samaritan vessels joined the trouble.

Isla Santa Cruz (Ecuadorian Navy file picture)

The good samaritan fishing vessel Amaslis discovered the 15 survivors within the early hours of May 27. All have been in good well being, and so they have been safely rescued by the Ecuadorian Navy coast guard vessel Isla Isabela. The drug bales have been additionally retained and dropped at shore as proof. 

The three suspects have been handed over for prosecution, and the authorities are investigating the reason for the weird sinking.