The Seychelles People's Defence Force has deliberately sunk a decommissioned patrol boat to turn it into an artificial reef and dive site.
Ex-PS Topaz had served with the Seychelles Coast Guard from 2005 until her decommissioning earlier this month. Prior to that, she operated for only three years as INS Tarmugli, a Trinkat-class fast attack craft of the Indian Navy.
The 46-metre vessel was scuttled near Conception Island, which lies in the Indian Ocean just two kilometres west of Seychelles' largest island of Mahé.
Topaz's operational history in Seychelles Coast Guard service was marked by multiple successful operations, particularly against Somali pirates targeting commercial ships in the Indian Ocean.
On April 30, 2010, the patrol boat participated in the successful rescue of six Seychellois and 21 Iranian sailors who had been taken hostage by nine Somali pirates aboard a small dhow. The pirates had attempted to retreat to the relative safety of the Somali coast, thus prompting Seychelles' then-President James Michel to order the coast guard to use any means necessary to prevent the dhow from escaping.
In the ensuing battle, Topaz was able to avoid getting hit by rocket-propelled grenades while managing to disable the dhow's engines using her own 12.7mm machine guns. All of the dhow's occupants later jumped into the water as the vessel's engine caught fire.
Topaz's crew eventually rescued all 27 hostages and the nine pirates. However, as the patrol boat was headed back to home waters, it came under fire from three other pirate vessels.
Topaz returned fire and successfully sank two of the pirate vessels while the third was able to escape. The patrol boat later arrived in the Seychelles' capital of Victoria to offload the hostages and the pirates.