CEFCOM / COMFEC NR 08.010 - February 5, 2008
OTTAWA - The patrol frigate HMCS Charlottetown has
rescued two sailors found adrift in the Arabian Sea aboard the Azaan,
a 240-foot barge designed to be towed by a tugboat. On February 3, 2008,
the frigate’s Sea King helicopter was conducting a routine patrol as
part of maritime security operations when the crew spotted the Azaan 100
miles northeast of Muscat, Oman. As the helicopter approached, the crew members
could see two people aboard waving frantically, and no tug in sight. They
reported the barge’s position to Charlottetown, which changed
course to intercept it and despatched an approach team with a translator
in a rigid-hulled inflatable boat to investigate.
With the translator’s
help, the sailors aboard the barge told the approach team a chilling story.
Citizens of Pakistan, they left the United Arab Emirates on January 29 as
members of the crew of a vessel named Al Wabi,
which was towing the Azaan to a scrap-metal yard in Jiwani, Pakistan.
On January 31, the towing cable broke in heavy seas, and they boarded the barge
to attach a new one. While they were working, the Al Wabi lost
propulsion for some reason, and then capsized and sank, taking with her the
other five members of the crew. The two men on the barge were left with nothing
to eat or drink, no shelter, and no means of communication.
As soon as the sailors’ story
was relayed to HMCS Charlottetown,
commanding officer Commander Patrick St-Denis ordered an exhaustive search
of the vicinity in the hope that other crewmembers from the Al Wabi might
have survived. Only debris from the sunken vessel was found, however, and the
search was terminated at sunset.
HMCS Charlottetown embarked the two
Pakistani sailors and gave them a hot meal, a shower, clean clothes, a place
to sleep, and a chance to call home to let their families know they were safe
and in good hands. The frigate’s
crew then rigged lights on the barge to prevent other vessels from colliding
with it, and reported its position and status of the survivors to Commander
Task Force 150, the coalition authority for maritime operations in the region. Charlottetown then
proceeded to the United Arab Emirates to deliver the rescued sailors to Pakistani
officials.
HMCS Charlottetown is currently deployed in the Persian
Gulf and Arabian Sea on Operation ALTAIR, Canada’s maritime
contribution to the continuing U.S.-led campaign against terrorism known as Operation
ENDURING FREEDOM. She left her home port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, on November
1, 2007.
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Notes for news and assignment editors:
Imagery of the rescue is available at http://www.combatcamera.forces.gc.ca/.
