During the 7th August the Puntland Maritime Police Force performed a rescue to the Yemeni fishing vessel “Al Amal”, stranded off the east coast of Somalia, near to the small village Eyl.
The Force Headquarters on board ESPS “Galicia” received early in the morning of the 5th August the information coming from a South Korean Warship, belonging to the Combined Task Force 151. Right after receiving this information, the Battle Watch Captain of the Force Headquarters was phoned by the Yemeni fishing vessel’s master.
Taking advantage of the Maritime Patrol Aircraft flight scheduled for the morning of the 5th, the Force Headquarters tasked the Spanish Airplane “Barbo” to fly over the area and to check the situation of the fishing vessel “Al Amal”.
Rapidly, the Force Headquarters reacted and coordinated the rescue with the local authorities of Puntland. The continuously interaction with the Puntland Maritime Police Force permitted the Force Headquarters to be uninterruptedly updated over the course of events.
The European Union Flagship was performing her counter piracy patrol off the east coast of Somalia, some nautical miles to the south of the stranded Yemeni fishing vessel position. The Spanish Warship was then tasked to navigate to the north heading to the vicinity of the “Al Amal” fishing vessel.
The main task of the Spanish Warship was to monitor the rescue performed by the Puntland Maritime Police Force just in case they had to act in the rescue.
The different meetings completed on board the ESPS “Galicia” with Somali leaders in the present rotation of Command allowed a really good cooperation and coordination with the Puntland authorities leading the rescue, proving that the approaches with the Somali local authorities and the seafarers contribute to strengthen and develop the maritime safety off the coast of Somalia.
Once the rescue was completed, the ESPS “Galicia” headed to Muscat, where she will enter the next 12th August 2015 after more than 100 days of days at seas since she left port the last 20th April 2015.
