A Peruvian sailor who lost a finger on a fishing trawler on Wednesday was evacuated by the Armed Forces and taken to St James Hospital from St Luke’s.

The 41-year-old sailor was on the 22-metre trawler Valle de Elda which was about 33 miles from the airport, from where the AFM dispatched its Alouette rescue-helicopter, callsign AS-9211.

The sea was calm but winching-up the casualty proved somewhat difficult as a long antenna was located in a high position very close to the hoisting-up point on the prow, and the vessel’s aft section was already cluttered with fishing nets and large cages.

After removing the antenna, the sailor was winched-up into the AFM’s rescue-helicopter by winchman-technician, Sergeant Ivan Saliba. He was found to have an amputated finger, but was found in a stable condition by rescuer Bombardier Ivan Gauci.