Canadians sailors patrolling the Arabian Sea for Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists rescued a boatload of starving, terrified Pakistani refugees earlier this week.

Cmdr. Jim Heath, commanding officer of HMCS Vancouver, said in an interview from the ship that the refugees had watched half their number drown as human smugglers tried to transport them to the United Arab Emirates. By the time the Canadians arrived, the 45 refugees had been drifting without power for about a week on the 12-metre boat. They were severely dehydrated and some were seriously ill after drinking salt water.

"They were pretty darn glad to see us, I'll tell you that," Heath said.

HMCS Vancouver, based in Esquimalt, B.C., near Victoria, is serving with an American battle carrier group in the Persian Gulf.

Through much of Monday night the ship had been tracking another vessel, waiting for daylight permission to board in search of hidden al-Qaida or Taliban terrorists. It's a function that's become routine for the 232 Canadian crew.

After boarding without incident Tuesday, the Vancouver was headed back to patrol the Straits of Hormuz when Heath was told about a possible small boat -- called a dhow -- in distress.

A British aircraft in the area helped pinpoint the location of the vessel and the Vancouver reached it by sunset.

Heath and his crew had no idea who the people were on board.

"They were waving their arms frantically, with their pillows and blankets in the air," he said. "Of course, we had to go in with a suspicious mind understanding what we're over here for."

The Vancouver circled the boat and a weapons team was put on alert.

But it quickly became apparent that those on the dhow were refugees in distress.

The boat sidled up to HMCS Vancouver and the crew began providing food, water, medical care and engineering help to try to combat flooding.

"They was a little bit of food left, but certainly no water to wash it down or prepare it," Heath said.

"As soon as we got a hold of them, we filled them up with fresh water, which is really the only thing you can do. . . .By the next morning, with breakfast into them, they were all looking pretty good, which is surprising given what they'd just been through."

One of the Pakistanis, a fellow the Vancouver crew dubbed Raffi because they couldn't pronounce his name, spoke English well enough to relate the horrific tale of the refugees' journey.

The Pakistanis came from villages all over the country and had paid human smugglers to get them into Oman or the United Arab Emirates. Some had been en route for almost a month.

They met in Karachi, then were broken into smaller groups and transported illegally to the Iranian port city of Jask.

Jask is one of the shortest distances across the Straits of Hormuz into Oman or the United Arab Emirates.

The refugees were packed into three boats: the 12-metre dhow and two smaller speed boats.

After about a day at sea, the migrants were ordered by the smugglers to get into one of the smaller boats to complete the crossing.

"They swarmed the small boat and it in fact capsized and about 35 of them drown right there on the spot," Heath said.

Those in the other small boat made a rescue attempt, but realizing there wasn't enough room, they sped away with only about five people on board.

That left the 45 people on the dhow.

"There are no leaders, nobody knows how to drive the boat or how to fix it. They wandered aimlessly for about a day before it broke down," Heath said.

They drifted another six days before the Canadians arrived. The dhow was almost 100 kilometres from the nearest shore.

"It's really a tragic story because it's tragic that they would risk that journey and leave their families not knowing if they're ever going to get there. It's tragic that over half of them drowned and tragic that having been rescued and turned over to the Omani authorities, they're going to be processed and sent right back from where they started," Heath said.

But the Vancouver crew was glad to help out, especially given the grim reasons they are in the Gulf in the first place.

"It's a mixed blessing story. We certainly appreciated doing something with a humanitarian flavour for a change. It something all Canadians take to naturally."