Jupiter 6 Mysteriously Vanishes With Crew While Towing Ship

Any news on jupiter 6.
Yesterday we received a msg stating she was sighted off cape town.

My cousin is part of the crew on Jupitor 6. So if there isany information on the same please let me know. My email id is [email protected]

Originally posted by keerthy_b
My cousin is part of the crew on Jupitor 6. So if there isany information on the same please let me know. My email id is [email protected]

We would also appreciate any updates that you might recieve concerning your cousin, and the crew of Jupitor 6.

Scrounged this up:

THE EPIRB BELONGING TO THE JUPITER 6 WAS DETECTED AT 081241 UTC OCT 05 IN POSITION
www.sanho.co.za...

E.P.I.R.B. - Emergency position indicator radio beacon

Tug 'lost' but puzzle remains
The tug Jupiter 6 is officially presumed lost with all hands after an emergency radio beacon signal was picked up and a search failed to find the ship.

The clues are a belated signal from an emergency position indicating radio beacon, a patch of oil and a piece of wreckage in a position about 200 miles south of Port Elizabeth, well off the shipping lanes.

Such evidence indicated that the Jupiter 6's crew had a terrible battle to try to reconnect their tow twice during bad weather.

A lot more here:
www.capeargus.co.za...

Originally posted by Regenmacher

A lot more here:
www.capeargus.co.za...

Great find

I don´t understand why this journalist keep refering to the towed ship as "Satsang" and not "SAPSAN"... South African Navy Hydrographic Office call her SAPSAN. Is it some kind of coverup? If so, why?

Originally posted by keerthy_b
My cousin is part of the crew on Jupitor 6. So if there isany information on the same please let me know. My email id is [email protected]

I hope that your cousin, and the rest of the crew, can be located and brought to saftey. I pray for strength for your family during this rough time.

The Indian Ocean is known for assorted pirates. A tugboat would be a useful tool for a gang of pirates.

In the Cape Argus site Henry Du has reported on 18th that There is mounting speculation that the tug Jupiter 6, at first thought to have sunk with the loss of all 13 crew, is under the control of pirates or mutineers.

Claims that the tug and her crew are safe are rife in India, amid rumours that her owners are negotiating with "hijackers

At the weekend, Josh Lawrence, brother of a sailor aboard the tug, said in an e-mail to the Cape Argus that he had been led to believe the tug had been "hijacked" and that the local "shipping office" was negotiating with the hijackers. "They said the crew were safe," he said.


A journalist from the Times of India also e-mailed to say he believed the tug was still afloat, because a signal that was sent automatically by the vessel's emergency position indicating radio beacon was transmitted only on October 8 - more than a month after the tug's crew last reported in.

Some shipping sources here are also suspicious. When the tug left Walvis Bay, she was low in the water because of all the fuel she had taken aboard, they said.

This could have indicated that the crew were planning to stay at sea for a long time.

Salvors who boarded the Satsang reported that the tow line was almost at full length, which could indicate the line had been cut at the tug's stern, rather than snapping. Emergency towing rigs on the Satsang, set up by the tug's crew, were broken

Does it mean that the tug is under the custody of hijackers. I am having some cell phone numbers of the crew. I am able to reach to their voice mail box. I have also got a delivery report of one of my sms to a phone of a crew on board. Does it mean that the cell is alive. And what shoudl I do to trace the whereabouts using these cell numbers. Can anybody help

The relatives of the missing crew have not been paid salaries for months. They hope the crew is still alive somewhere in Africa. They have decided to approach the Supreme Court, seeking an inquiry into Jupiter 6's disappearance...


Related News Sources:
Timesnow.tv: Are they still sailing? (from August 10, 2006)

Btw, both of these articles call the big ship "M V Pointing" instead of "Santung" or "Sapsan"...

[edit on 2006/8/13 by Hellmutt]

It's the same Jupiter 6, no doubt about it. I wonder why they got the name of the other ship wrong?

Tug lost towing bulker to scrap

JUPITER 6 (ST. VINCENT & GRENADINES)

SATSANG (PANAMA)

From Lloyds List
[---]
Warning issued: Salvage tug Jupiter 6
(323 gt, built 1975), towing bulk Satsang (16066 gt, built 1971) from
Walvis Bay to India. Owner of Jupiter 6 has had no contact with Jupiter
6 since Sep 6. Cape Town Radio also tried to contact the vessel, but
with no response. Last known position, as of Sep 5: lat 35 52.1S, long
23 25.9E. All vessels are requested to keep a sharp lookout and are
requested to report any sightings of Jupiter 6 and Satsang to Cape Town
Radio or Hydrosan.
[---]
Salvage tug Jupiter 6 sailed from Walvis
Bay at the end of August, towing the 16 000-ton bulk Satsang to India
for scrapping.

What's the name of other ship? Was it Satsang, or was it Satsung?. Was it Sapsan or was it M V Pointing? There are now four different names on that other ship in this thread. Which one is correct? We are talking about the same Jupiter 6 towing a ship in September last year from Walvis Bay to India. It's strange that with so few sources here, they all manage to get a different name for that other ship...

This is quite a jump in time here.

Any word on the crew? Or is the jury still out?

Jupiter 6 has not been forgotten, at least not by the crew's relatives. Here's a couple of recent articles. The first article doesn't give any name(s) for the other ship, the one Jupiter 6 was supposedly towing when she disappeared...



...While this article gives the other ship a couple of names ("Satsung, a dead ship formerly known as M.V. Pointing"), and mentions a mysterious phonecall (a "missed call") to a relative of one of the missing crew members. Btw, how many days does it usually take to sail from South Africa to India?


None of these articles mentions that the ship towed by Jupiter 6 was found as a ghost ship...

Someone (thank you) sent me a very interesting link to some info on Jupiter 6 and its disappearance.

JUPITER 6

JUPITER 6 : crew before leaving Walvis bay (Picture from Missions to Seafarers)


One fact so far not known was that a ship named Caroline reported sighting Jupiter 6 on 12/9 but no radio contact could be extablished, the position was in the proximity of the last reported position but without a tow.

Jupiter 6 spotted without the tow and no radio contact could be established?

And on one internet discussion group I read that the tug could have been swallowed by a giant squid! No further comments.

A giant squid?! No way! I wonder who came up with that idea...

ITHOMI, is apparently the correct name of the ship JUPITER 6 was towing. I believe the most likely scenario is that JUPITER 6 was sunk by a freak wave.

I came across this thread (again) after several years, and it looks like we will never know for sure what happened to the tug.

Nothing ever came about those reports of the crew negotiating with hijackers?

reply to post by jsobecky


I don't know, John. It also seems like the conditions probably made pirates unlikely to be at the scene at that time. Here's however, another point for the squid theorist...


Colossal Squid- Worlds largest eyes

Another ship has vanished in these waters. Someone on the ship fired an emergency flare (several witnesses) and the ship was reportedly seen "being pushed sideways" before she disappeared without a trace. Search and rescue teams have not been able to locate the ship or any debris.

Air-sea rescue but 'large ship' just disappears

reply to post by Hellmutt

Hellmutt,

That is weird for a ship to go missing like that. Perhaps it was a pocket of gas... I do find the explanation of the ship simply running over the barge to be the most plausible.

What is even more of a mystery is the fact that we have a nice unsolved mystery here but no credits for the finder.....here's a flag Helmutt, good find

Peace

[edit on 18-5-2010 by operation mindcrime]

I'm going with the piracy possibility first and foremost due to the location.

Second line.

a reply to: igor_ats

They mustve been shot or taken, you'd think atleast one person would've made it to the bigger ship if she sank.