• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

USS Mcclusky Rescues 299 Ecuadorians in Eastern Pacific

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS050914-13
Release Date: 9/14/2005 11:30:00 AM

By Ensign Josh Duggan, USS McClusky Public Affairs

ABOARD USS MCCLUSKY, Eastern Pacific (NNS) -- During two weeks in August, Sailors from USS McClusky (FFG 41) rescued 299 Ecuadorians from three overloaded vessels off the west coast of Central America.

Deployed as part of a Joint Inter-Agency Task Force conducting operations in the Eastern Pacific, the ship and her crew, along with the embarked helicopter detachment and Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET), are saving lives.

“Saving lives is about the most important mission we can engage in,” said Cmdr. Herman T.K. Awai, the ship’s commanding officer. “The crew takes enormous pride in saving so many people. Their training and readiness makes these rescues possible.”

While on patrol on an evening in early August, McClusky and her embarked helicopter located a nameless, non-flagged 50-foot vessel operating without navigation lights approximately 100 miles off the coast of Guatemala. Several attempts to contact the vessel in both English and Spanish were unsuccessful. Unsure of the vessel’s intentions, Awai dispatched the embarked Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) to investigate.

Discovered on board were 71 Ecuadorians who reported that the vessel had been deserted a few days earlier by the master and crew. In addition to being dangerously overloaded, the vessel was not suitable for the type of voyage it was undertaking.

After coordination with the government of Guatemala, the Ecuadorians were transferred to Guatemalan authorities for repatriation.

Eleven days later, McClusky spotted the 55-foot Ecuadorian-flagged fishing vessel Lakshmi I 300 miles south of Guatemala. This vessel was also found to be dangerously overloaded, with 166 persons on board.

Ensign Ravi Sharma, from Tampa Bay, Fla., the conning officer at the time, noted the vessel’s condition. When McClusky dispatched the LEDET to investigate, those on the vessel, who had started their journey from Ecuador, requested to be taken aboard because of concerns for their own safety. During worsening sea state and weather, McClusky’s crew undertook the six-hour operation of transferring each Ecuadorian.

“I was excited to be a part of this valuable mission,” said Seaman Alfred Meza, of Los Angeles, Calif., who assisted in shuttling the migrants to McClusky in the ship’s Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat.

Once safely aboard McClusky, the Ecuadorians were provided food, water and a thorough health screening by the ship’s medical staff. At the end of their journey, many of the Ecuadorians made it a point to stop and shake the hands of the Sailors who had rescued and looked after them.

Within hours of the departure of the second group of Ecuadorians, McClusky encountered another nameless, non-flagged 55-foot vessel 65 miles off Guatemala. On board the vessel were 62 migrants, who all claimed Ecuadorian nationality and requested to be brought aboard McClusky. After an assessment was made that the vessel was unsafe to continue its voyage, McClusky embarked the Ecuadorians, and arrangements were made for their safe return ashore.

McClusky is an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate homeported in San Diego and currently has an embarked detachment from Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron (Light) (HSL) 45, and a U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment.