SPDF rescues two boats over the weekend |09 November 2020

President Ramkalawan and Vice-President Afif being briefed on the rescue operations at the maritime operations centre (Photo: Joena Meme)

• Gets praise from President Ramkalawan

The Seychelles People’s Defence Forces (SPDF) undertook two separate search and rescue operations over the weekend to assist local fishermen who were in distress.

True to its name, the Seychelles Coast Guard patrol boat ‘Le Vigilant’ successfully dealt with these two incidents.

The first incident involved the fishing vessel Pti Ser, carrying three fishermen who went out fishing around 56 nautical miles north-west of Mahé.

Following a battery failure, the vessel sent out a distress signal through its vessel monitoring system (VMS) and was speedily assisted by the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard was able to resolve Pti Ser’s technical issue and the boat sailed back into port.

Meanwhile, the second incident necessitated a collaborative effort between the Coast Guard and SPDF’s eyes-in-the-sky, the Seychelles Air Force (SAF).

This second incident involved three young fishermen from La Retraite, also faced with technical issues with their vessel, who were located by the SAF Dornier early on Saturday morning, 24 nautical miles north-west of Mahé.

Their relatives had filed a report late Friday night after the three men failed to return from their day trip. The search and rescue operation started on Friday evening.

President Wavel Ramkalawan praised the SPDF for their successful operations and took a quick detour to the Coast Guard base on Saturday, accompanied by Vice-President Ahmed Afif. At the base, President Ramkalawan was familiarised with the maritime operations centre and debriefed on the rescues by Major Tom Esticot.

Major Esticot commended the Coast Guard and Air Force unit on their prompt and professional responses during the weekend.

Elsie Pointe