An Air Force Orion has successfully found a yacht floundering in high seas south of Tonga.

The Orion, launched late last night, located the Bird of Passage, which had lost its mast and run aground after a night of heavy seas and high winds.

Tactical Coordinator, Flight Lieutenant Glen Donaldson says the two women on board the yacht ran on to the deck and started waving as the aircraft flew over. “They’d obviously been through a couple of harrowing days in high seas and 70 knot plus winds,” he said.

Crewmembers from a nearby yacht, the Namerida, were able to safely get the two women off the Bird of Passage using a small inflatable craft.

Last weekend an Air Force Orion on a routine patrol in the Pacific found a lone yachtsman stranded on an atoll after he’d been forced to abandon ship.

ENDS

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