All 28 crew of the Singapore-flagged container ship Espirito Santo Express were rescued in the South Atlantic on 15 October 2026 after a fire on board. But the rescue cost a life: the chief officer of the rescue ship, the Portuguese-flagged bulk carrier Aeolian Arrow, fell into the sea at the end of the operation and could not be recovered.
Portugal's maritime accident investigation office, GAMA (Gabinete de Investigação de Acidentes Marítimos), has classed the case as a very serious marine casualty and opened a safety investigation.
What happened
Espirito Santo Express, a 2018-built ship of 11,800 TEU owned and managed by Seaspan and chartered to Hapag-Lloyd, was on its way from Singapore to Santos in Brazil. A possible explosion and a fire were reported on 15 October, about 1,700 km east of Rio de Janeiro, far from any coast, The Maritime Executive reported. The cause has not been made public.
The crew abandoned ship, 19 in a lifeboat and nine in a liferaft. The rescue coordination centre in Rio de Janeiro (MRCC Rio de Janeiro) named Aeolian Arrow as on-scene coordinator, and the bulk carrier picked up all 28, GAMA said. Hapag-Lloyd said Seaspan had confirmed that all crew of the container ship were safe and accounted for.
A Brazilian Air Force KC-390 aircraft flew out from Rio de Janeiro on 16 October to support the search and rescue, the Brazilian aviation site Aeroin reported, according to Revista Sociedade Militar. Brazil also issued a NAVAREA V navigational warning for the incident.
The chief officer of the rescue ship
According to GAMA, the rescue was already complete when Aeolian Arrow was recovering the rescue boat it had used. The sea, the swell and the current made the boat move violently, and the bulk carrier's chief officer fell into the sea. The rescue boat was swamped and later lost.
The crew of Aeolian Arrow tried several times to bring him back on board, using lifebuoys on lines and a cargo net rigged for hoisting. He was conscious after he fell, but he repeatedly lost his grip on the rescue equipment, then went under and could not be recovered, GAMA said. His name and nationality have not been published.
Aeolian Arrow was heading to Santos with the rescued crew, Hapag-Lloyd and Ocean Network Express (ONE) told customers, according to The Maritime Executive. The container ship was left drifting. Claims consultant W.E. Cox said it understood that the salvage company SMIT had been hired, and the shipping lines said the damage to the ship and cargo was still being assessed.
What crews can take from it
The investigation has only just started, and GAMA has not yet said why the accident happened. These general points apply to any ship that may be called to a rescue:
Recovering your own rescue boat in a heavy swell can be as dangerous as the rescue itself. Plan the recovery before you launch, brief the boat crew, and keep lifejackets on, with immersion suits when the sea or the weather calls for them.
A person in the water may be cold, tired or injured and unable to hold on to a lifebuoy line or a net. Know what recovery equipment your ship carries, how to rig it at your freeboard, and practise with it in drills.
The crew of the burning ship got away in a lifeboat and a liferaft and were all saved. Regular abandon-ship drills and well-kept survival craft are what make that possible.
If an MRCC names your ship on-scene coordinator, the IAMSAR Manual Volume III, which ships must carry, sets out the duties. The master still decides what is safe for their own crew.
Cover photo: The same ship under its earlier name Seaspan Harrier (IMO 9793923) at Paranaguá, Brazil, in April 2022. Photo: CaptainDarwin/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped).
Sources: GAMA: AEOLIAN ARROW, acidente marítimo muito grave, registo 2026-457 (in Portuguese), Hapag-Lloyd: Vessel incident, update on MV ESPIRITO SANTO EXPRESS, The Maritime Executive: Rescuer lost during evacuation of burning containership east of Brazil (19 Oct 2026), Seatrade Maritime News: Hapag-Lloyd operated ship abandoned in Atlantic after fire (19 Oct 2026), Revista Sociedade Militar: KC-390 da FAB cruza 1.700 km do Atlântico em missão após incêndio em cargueiro (18 Oct 2026, in Portuguese).
