PERTH - An Australian warship on an Indian Ocean mercy mission has battled heavy seas to reached a Spanish fishing boat with an injured crewman on board.
HMAS Warramunga - a guided missile frigate - and the fishing boat Illa Gaveira have rendezvoused 350 nautical miles off theWest Australian coast.
The injured crewman, who is aged in his 50s and doesn't speak English, broke his right arm badly on Tuesday.
The navy was called in to assist on Friday after his condition worsened, and he started to lose circulation to the limb.
Defence spokesman Brigadier Andrew Nikolic said both ships were turning east toward Australia in moderate heavy swells.
"It's still dark and too dangerous to effect the transfer of the doctor and the interpreter," he said.
"They hope to do that sometime in the next hour to two hours."
Brig Nikolic said the doctor would decide whether the injured man would be taken on board the Warramunga or treated on the fishing vessel.
It's not known how the man broke his arm when the Illa Gaveira was 1,300 nautical miles west of Fremantle.
He is believed to be from an island off the coast of Senegal, West Africa, He speaks Portuguese and understands Spanish.
Brig Nikolic said Search and Rescue Australia had been forced to call in the navy because the fishing boat was out of range of aircraft and no civilian vessels were close enough to assist.
"The Royal Australian Navy has done a fantastic job at short notice in heavy swells to close the distance with the Illa Gaveira so quickly," he said.
