The 12th edition of the famous solo transatlantic race continues to wreak havoc, six days after leaving Saint-Malo.
At the beginning of the afternoon, while en route to Cascais in Portugal, an explosion occurred on board the Imoca (18-meter monohull) Nexans - Art & Fenêtres of Fabrice Amedeo, causing a subsequent fire damage declared the day before.
The Mayenne skipper abandoned his ship, which sank off the Portuguese coast.
"Rescue operations were immediately launched," reads the event site.
Alerted by the race management, the Portuguese maritime rescue services contacted the vessels present in the area of the accident.
The nearby Freighter M/V MAERSK BRIDA diverted and the rescue operation went well at 2:21 p.m. UT (3:21 p.m.) this afternoon.
Fabrice is safe on board the freighter, he is not injured.
It will be disembarked in the port city of Ponta Delgada, located on the south coast of the island of São Miguel, in the Azores archipelago.
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Fire on board Nexans - Art & Windows: @FabriceAmedeo picked up by a freighter
More info ➡️ https://t.co/IibAWhKhWo pic.twitter.com/CuUSNmwipg
— Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe (@RouteDuRhum) November 14, 2022
It was one of the ballast tanks (large capacity water tank, intended to be filled or drained with seawater in order to optimize navigation on the starboard side) which was the cause of this fire. Nexans - Art & Fenêtres found himself flooded with several hundred liters of salt water in the cabin, drowning the batteries and causing the failure of the electric pump and the release of hydrogen.
Sunday morning, Fabrice Amedeo (44 years old), for whom this is the 4th participation, had already noticed the rupture of this ballast while the boat was sailing in the heart of the Azores archipelago, with particularly virulent conditions at the moment and which caused numerous damages to the competitors.
His mainsail had also been torn and the navigator was heading for the Portuguese coast to repair and possibly get back on the road towards Guadeloupe.