The crew of a Devon-based warship have saved the lives of 23 seamen whose cargo ship was caught in a tropical cyclone off Somalia.
HMS Chatham, which is conducting Nato anti-piracy operations off east Africa, responded to a mayday call from MV Dubai Moon which was listing heavily.
The frigate raced to the stricken ship, MV Dubai Moon, launched its Lynx helicopter and winched the crew off.
The cargo ship’s master said the crew owed their lives to the Royal Navy.
Grounding fears
The drama unfolded early on Thursday when crew on the bridge of HMS Chatham, which is based in Devonport, Plymouth, received a distress call from the master of MV Dubai Moon, Capt Hassan Madar.
He reported that his vessel was caught in a tropical storm – which later evolved into a cyclone – and was struggling to make headway in extremely rough seas and high winds.
The ship, which was transporting vehicles, was drifting towards an island and there were fears that it could run aground.
As concerns mounted Capt Madar and HMS Chatham’s commanding officer, Commander Simon Huntington, maintained contact throughout the night to try to work out the best way to save the merchant ship.
Weather conditions improved on Friday and the crew of HMS Chatham were able to winch the crew off the cargo vessel in an operation which took three hours. The ship later sank.
‘Challenging’ conditions
Capt Hassan Madar said: "Normally we operate close to the coast but we had to go far out to sea to avoid pirates.
"That meant we could not find shelter from the storm.
"If we had not been rescued by the Royal Navy and Nato we would have died with my ship.
"They were the only people to respond to our distress call; we owe them our lives."
Commander Huntington added: "This rescue was conducted in the most challenging sea conditions imaginable… the tropical cyclone tested the ship and everyone on board."
HMS Chatham has been involved in a number of rescue operations while carrying out operations in the Gulf.
In February crew airlifted a Filipino sailor with suspected appendicitis to hospital after he fell in on an oil tanker in the Middle East.
A week before it had dispatched Royal Marines to help 21 Yemeni fishermen spotted adrift in the middle of a shipping zone after their vessel had run out of fuel.
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