US Navy rescues Iranian fishermen, again

- / AFP - Getty Images

Sailors from guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey's provide food, water and medical supplies to distressed Iranian mariners on Wednesday.

By Courtney Kube, NBC News

The U.S. Navy is either following around Iranian boats waiting until they issue?distress calls, or they were once again in the right place at the right time for several needy fishermen.

The guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey came to the rescue of a sinking Iranian fishing dhow in the Arabian Sea early Wednesday morning.

An MH-60R Seahawk helicopter spotted the sinking dhow at 7:53 a.m. All but one of the crew members had already climbed on to two other dhows nearby.

The USS Dewey hurried to the boat?-- named the Al Mamsoor -- where a U.S. boarding team gave the Iranian fishermen water, food, and both medical and hygienic supplies. In all, the U.S. gave them about 150 pounds of supplies.

The dhow had been flooding for several days before the fishermen finally abandoned their ship.

Last Thursday, U.S. naval forces in the northern Arabian Sea rescued 13 Iranian fisherman who were held hostages by pirates for more than a month, sending them home with food and fuel and wearing baseball caps bearing the name of the U.S. warship that freed them.

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Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/18/10185421-us-navy-rescues-iranian-fishermen-again

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