Flying Tigers help save over 1,100 lives at sea
The UK Royal Navy has reported on the rescue of hundreds of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea on 7 June, the largest such rescue carried out by the service since HMS Bulwark was deployed to the area with three Merlin helicopters.
Image: 814 NAS Merlin and RM Landing Craft from HMS Bulwark (UK Royal Air Force)
The UK Royal Navy has reported on the rescue of hundreds of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea on 7 June, the largest such rescue carried out by the service since HMS Bulwark was deployed to the area with three Merlin helicopters on 5 May. The aircraft, from 814 Naval Air Squadron (known as the Flying Tigers), support the international humanitarian operation by scanning the Mediterranean looking out for vessels in distress.
After only 10 minutes in the air, the crew of one Merlin, Tiger 1, were able to utilise their maritime radar to locate and identify an inflatable vessel with over 100 migrants crammed onboard and in distress. A total of five small inflatable vessels, each with over 100 people onboard, and two wooden boats, each with over 300 onboard, were located during a four-hour morning sortie.
Royal Marine landing craft were later directed to recover the migrants to the safety of HMS Bulwark, recovering over 1100 survivors over the course of the day, with the Merlin providing overhead coverage of each rescue mission.
Tiger 1 made a further flight to airlift a woman in labour to Malta Airport. The Navy explained: “Amongst those rescued was a heavily pregnant woman called Favor (29) from Nigeria, whose waters dramatically broke whilst waiting to be rescued. Once aboard HMS Bulwark, it was clear to the medical team that there could be complications with the birth. As Favor was now in labour, for the safety of her and the unborn baby’s life, she needed to be transferred to hospital immediately. The nearest Hospital was in Malta, over 180 miles away. ‘Action Merlin, Action Merlin’ sounding over the Ship’s Broadcast system, signalled the Flying Crew to make ready ‘Tiger 1’ for her final – but time critical – flight of the day. With her husband Anthony by her side and accompanied by two members of the ship’s medical team, Favor was stretchered onboard the readied Merlin Helicopter and flown for over an hour to Malta Airport where she was met by an ambulance.”
Lt Cdr Chris Wood, senior pilot of 814 Naval Air Squadron and aircraft commander, said: “This is what we do. We have to be ready for anything and you never know what you may come across when you get actioned. As a team we are all highly trained and equipped to do the job. Today, we were able to contribute to a whole ship effort to get Favor and her baby to safety - without us things could have been a lot worse.”
After arriving at hospital, the woman gave birth to a healthy baby boy in the early hours of the following morning.