Three sailors were airlifted to hospital from aboard a cargo ship after they were seriously injured during a lifeboat launching exercise that went horribly wrong.

Sources said the sailors, Filippino Bernabi Realingo and Alexander Gonzalez and Indian Kreshna Kumar Dwevedi, were lowering a lifeboat into the water when a rope gave way. The sailors sustained broken legs and arms and spinal injuries. The army said the cargo ship, the Stavenger Prince, was about 15 nautical miles off the island when it made the urgent call for assistance.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.