It said the sailors were injured from the machinery fire on the Liberian-registered merchant tanker Perla last week.
The guided-missile frigate Newcastle of the Royal Australian Navy was called in to help the sailors. The report quoted Newcastle Commander Paul O’Grady as saying that the fire had left the oil tanker powerless, adrift and vulnerable to pirate attack.
The Newcastle was in the area conducting maritime security operations in the region as part of collaboration between the French and Spanish navies.
“After steaming 100 nautical miles at best speed to reach the Perla, the sea state prevented us from rendering immediate assistance,” O’Grady said. “Being in a known pirate area, we took up a security position for Perla.”
The report said while the frigate kept guard until conditions improved, Filipino-born Able Seaman John Baguio, a member of the ship’s medical team, reassured the injured sailors over radio.
“I was humbled that I could help merchant seamen from my old country, as a member of my new country’s Navy,” Baguio said. “Before leaving the Philippines, I had trained to be a merchant seaman myself, so this whole situation was surreal,” the Australian newspaper quoted him as saying.
It said Navy medics were able to winch aboard the Perla and recover two men with second and third degree burns to their face, head, shoulders and hands. They also treated a third man who had a second degree burn to his arm.
The pair is now recovering in a Seychelles hospital after being transferred to Spanish Naval Ship SPS Numancia following a night aboard the Newcastle.
The report did not identify the sailors.
Philippine officials were not immediately available to comment on the report. (Mindanao Examiner)
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