French Navy's Cassard-class anti-aircraft frigate Cassard, which had just escorted a US vessel, Lewis B. Puller, was preparing for replenishment at sea with the USS Kanawha, when it received a distress signal on Tuesday morning.
The sender, merchant vessel Durban Queen, was sinking. The listing ship was soon spotted at seven nautical miles. Under the operational control of the French Joint Forces Commander in the Indian Ocean (ALINDIEN), the French frigate dispatched its aircraft, a Panther from the 36F Flotilla, which had just landed on the helipad after finishing a maritime surveillance sortie.
When the helicopter reached the spot, Durban Queen, bearing a Saint Kitts and Nevis flag, had capsised minutes ago. Its Indian crew were clinging to the overturned hull. Moments later, it began sinking.
By 12:35 hrs the Panther, with two pilots, a diver and a helihoisting operator began lifting the shipwrecked crew. In the first run, four sailors were transported to the nearest vessel, a merchant ship. In the second and the third runs, four people, including the injured, were brought aboard the Cassard and attended to by its medical team.
The helihoisting operations ended in about an hour. The 12 shipwrecked crew, all Indians, were then sent to the Sea Princess, a cruise ship.
This is the Cassard’s second rescue mission in less than seven days in the Indian Ocean maritime zone. ALINDIEN controls the French forces present in its zone of permanent responsibility, which comprises 14 countries for the terrestrial part, and from the South of the Suez Canal to the western limits of the waters of Myanmar, Indonesia and Australia for the maritime part (CZM).
