Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic is the remotest inhabited island in the world. It has 230 permanent inhabitants, all of whom hold British Overseas Territories Citizenship. There is no airstrip on the island; the only way of travelling to or from Tristan is by a six-day boat trip from Cape Town in South Africa. A man and his wife who live on Tristan were recently passengers on the cruise ship MV Hondius and were dropped off in mid-April when the ship called at the island. Later the man was diagnosed with hantavirus which he had contracted while on board the ship. Three passengers on the ship had died from the disease which can transfer to humans from rats.

Tristan has a small healthcare centre staffed by two medical professionals, who became exhausted through treating their patient. They were treating him with oxygen and were running out of their supply. There was also the danger of the disease spreading to others on the island. The only option was to parachute a medical team and additional supplies on to the island in time to save the man’s life.

So, Army medics were flown 7,000 miles from RAF Brize Norton to Tristan. An RAF A400M transport aircraft flew for more than 20 hours. It was supported by an RAF Voyager to provide 4 air-to-air refuels on the journey. They landed at RAF Ascension Island to refuel before the last stage to Tristan. Overall, more than 100 military personnel were involved in the operation. The weather in the South Atlantic is exceptionally challenging and there was just a small weather window on the Saturday afternoon before the winds would go outside limits for the jump. Just in time two clinicians and six members of the Parachute Regiment parachuted safely on to Tristan together with the necessary medical aid. Mission accomplished!

This remarkable rescue mission, so well planned and executed, reminds us of the greatest rescue of all time. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, came from heaven to earth to save sinful people like us. You and I may only be one amongst 8 billion people on Earth but each of us is precious in God’s sight. Jesus came to our world and died on the Cross to pay the debt of sin we owe so that we might find forgiveness, freedom and eternal life. Just as the man and his wife and the medical team on Tristan can never thank enough those who came to their aid so, when we realise what God has done in Jesus, we cannot stop thanking him and telling him how much we love him.