The HMAS Newcastle was called in to help three Filipino men who suffered severe burns during a machinery fire on Liberian registered merchant tanker Perla in the Somali Basin last week.    The fire had left the oil tanker powerless, adrift and vulnerable to pirate attack when the Newcastle steamed in to lend a hand, Newcastle Commander Paul O’Grady said.
“After steaming 100 nautical miles at best speed to reach the Perla, the sea state prevented us from rendering immediate assistance,” Commander O’Grady said.
“Being in a known pirate area, we took up a security position for Perla.”
“I was humbled that I could help merchant seamen from my old country, as a member of my new country’s Navy,” Able Seaman Baguio said.
“Before leaving the Philippines, I had trained to be a merchant seaman myself, so this whole situation was surreal.”
Eventually, Navy medics were able to winch aboard the Perla and recover two men with second and third degree burns to their face, head, shoulders and hands.
They treated a third man who had a second degree burn to his arm.
The pair are now recovering in a Seychelles hospital after being transferred to Spanish Naval Ship SPS Numancia following a night aboard the Newcastle.
The Defence Force said the Newcastle was in the area conducting maritime security operations in the region as part of collaboration between the French and Spanish navies.
Via: http://www.shiptalk.com/
