A team from Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose set sail to the Indian Ocean today on a six month deployment helping in the fight against piracy.
The Aircrew and engineers from 829 Naval Air Squadron and their Merlin helicopter are heading to the Indian Gulf aboard HMS Sutherland. They will help with Counter Piracy Operations within the area as well as surveillance for Counter Drug and People and Weapon trafficking.
A helicopter winchman based at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall has received a bravery award from the Duke of Edinburgh for his role in saving the crew of a yacht in high winds and heavy seas. Sgt Tony Russell put his own life at risk during the night-time rescue last July.
Sgt Russell was presented with the Billy Deacon Memorial Trophy by the Duke at St James's Palace. The trophy is named after a winchman who died while carrying out duties in the Shetlands in 1997.
Sgt Russell rescued the two crew of a yacht who had taken to a liferaft. One man was rescued after the liferaft inverted. The winchman found him in an air pocket. He was saved after Sgt Russell had spent 30 minutes in the water, at night and in appalling conditions.
A man has died after falling from cliffs in Cornwall. Rescue services were called to Mullion on The Lizard in the early hours after reports that a holidaymaker had been injured. A helicopter from RNAS Culdrose took the 52 year-old man to the Royal Cornwall Hospital, but he was dead on arrival.