A Pacific patrol boat has run aground on its maiden voyage in Fiji, just a few months after being handed over by the Australian government.
Fiji’s Navy confirmed on Tuesday that the RFNS Puamau hit a reef on Fiji’s remote Lau group of islands on Monday, midway through its first two-week-long patrol.
No injuries have been reported, but the accident is a major embarrassment for Fiji’s Navy, which commissioned the high-tech vessel less than a month ago after it was gifted to Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka at a ceremony in Perth in March. In a statement, Fiji’s Navy said its first priority was “the safety and welfare of all crew onboard and safely recovering the vessel.”
“A crisis management team has been assembled to oversee the situation, with emergency support crews en route and secondary support arrangements underway in collaboration with our partners,” the statement read.
Australia is assisting with the recovery operation, with Fiji’s Navy deploying another patrol boat to the stricken vessel and scrambling to pump water out of the engine room to control flooding.
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