At 9.45 pm on March 30, 1943, the Portuguese steamer Foca, traveling between Cacheu, in Guinea Bissau, and Lisbon, found a raft with nine crew members of the Belgian steamer Moanda. On the same day they left them in Funchal, Madeira Island, where the ship had scale scheduled.

All had injuries, but two needed urgent care, one with massive burns.

Moanda was traveling in the RS.3 convoy when, in the early minutes of March 29, 1943, it was hit by a torpedo fired by U-172, which caused a violent fire. Several men jumped into the sea with the clothes on fire and among the escort ship it was believed that there were no survivors, but they were wrong and a total of 27 people managed to escape. In addition to those found by the Foca, others landed in different parts of Africa.

On April 11, 1943, some of the survivors arrived in Lisbon aboard the Portuguese liner Lourenço Marques, who had made a stop in Funchal.

Carlos Guerreiro