A brand new Augusta AW139 helicopter commissioned by the AFM has been welcomed with open arms by the crews. For one thing, they will no long have to resort to basic hand-held torches to search for missing people.

Speaking at the inauguration of the first of two new twin-engine AW139 helicopters for the army, Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia said the service now had a proper night rescue capability.

Last February AFM rescue crews had to use hand-held torches to locate two divers stranded below the cliffs off of Dwejra. The rescue mission was outside the normal operational protocol of the small Alouette helicopter, which was not fitted with any night vision equipment. Such helicopters are also not meant to be used in strong winds.

Mark Cassar, the pilot who conducted the operation told Times of Malta that the rescue crew were forced to use hand torches to try and locate the two divers in force 6 winds and crashing waves.

He said he had decided to conduct the mission as the other option of sending out a rescue team on the Malta-based Italian Military Mission helicopter would have taken an extra two hours.

“It was sunset, and at that point we shouldn’t have been going out. But, it was life or death, in this case for both those requiring rescue as well as the rescue team,” he said.

The new helicopters, costing some €15 million each, are fitted with tailor made rescue equipment and have double the range of the single-engined Alouettes.

The new aircraft were 75 per cent financed by the External Borders Fund. Parliamentary secretary for EU funding Ian Borg, said the new equipment would be housed in a new hangar, which along with other EU funded projects, meant that the AFM had utilised more than half of the available boarder control funds.

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