After her recovery, India repatriates Seychelles Coast Guard sailor who had mid-sea medical emergency
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On April 14th, the sailor was on-board the Seychelles Coast Guard vessel SCGS Zoroaster transiting Indian waters and sailing back home, when she reported severe abdominal pain. Since the foreign ship Zoroaster was being escorted by Indian Navy's INS Garuda, the sailor was shifted to the Indian ship
India has repatriated a woman sailor of the Seychelles Coast Guard, for whom India provided mid-sea assistance and medical evacuation during an emergency, while she was off India's Western coast, near Lakshadweep. This act of goodwill has further enhanced the bilateral ties between India and the Indian Ocean littoral state. Notably, India's Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Hari Kumar is on a three-day (Apr 21-23rd) visit to Seychelles to further deepen the ties.
On April 14th, the sailor was on-board the Seychelles Coast Guard vessel SCGS Zoroaster transiting Indian waters and sailing back home, when she reported severe abdominal pain. Since the foreign ship Zoroaster was being escorted by Indian Navy's INS Garuda, the sailor was shifted to the Indian ship for further medical management and evacuation. Later that afternoon, India's indigenously-built Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), operated from the Indian Navy's INS Garuda base in Kochi successfully completed the medical evacuation.
Then, the patient who was brought to INS Garuda Naval Air Base in Kochi was shifted to INHS Sanjivani by ambulance and was observed to be in a stable condition. In order to facilitate a medical evacuation, the Indian Navy had prepared the ALH and Sea King 42C helicopters at Kochi. Eventually, the ALH chopper with a Naval Medical officer on-board took off from the base and headed towards INS Sharda, which was 15 km north of Minicoy Islands, off India's West Coast. In a little over four hours from the time of the chopper having lifted off from Kochi, the patient was brought to the city for further treatment, on April 14th .
Seychelles Peoples Defence Force Ship Zoroaster was on a goodwill visit to Kochi from 11-12th April 2022. Zoroaster is a Fast Attack Craft constructed by Garden Reach Shipbuilders Engineering (GRSE) Kolkata and presented to Seychelles People’s Defence Force in 2021. The ship is on her return passage to Seychelles after participating in multi-lateral exercise MILAN-22 at Visakhapatnam. The ship also visited Kochi in January 2022 during her passage to Visakhapatnam. The visit of Zoroaster to Kochi has enhanced the defence cooperation between the two countries.