Posted on 04/23/2012 7:34:45 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
USS BLUE RIDGE, At Sea (NNS) -- A P-3 Orion from Patrol Squadron (VP) 1, in conjunction with the U.S. Coast Guard's District 14, assisted in the rescue of 10 Taiwanese fishermen April 21, 700 miles off the west coast of Guam.
At approximately 4:30 p.m., local time, Coast Guard Sector Guam received an initial alert from an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon from the Hsin Man Chun, the 70-foot Taiwanese fishing vessel. After a request for assistance from the Coast Guard, VP-1's P-3 located 10 crew members from the fishing vessel that was reported to be on fire.
VP-1 spotted eight crew members in a life raft with two crew members still on the burning vessel's bridge. The P-3 deployed two life rafts to assist crew members in distress.
At the time of the request for assistance, the Semirio was only 40 miles away from the distressed vessel. Once on scene, the 980-foot bulk carrier launched a small boat and successfully rescued all 10 crew members.
The Semirio is one of many foreign flagged vessels operating in the Pacific that voluntarily participate in the Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System (AMVER).
AMVER, sponsored by the U.S. Coast Guard, is a unique, computer-based, and voluntary global ship reporting system used worldwide by search and rescue authorities to arrange for assistance to persons in distress at sea. With AMVER, rescue coordinators can identify participating ships in the area of distress and divert the best-suited ship or ships to respond.
700 miles west of Guam? Nearest vessel 40 miles? Everyone rescued? Go buy some lottery tickets.
If you put out a radio signal on a distress frequency within 300-500 miles, they'll pick it up.
They may, or may not respond depending on the mission.
With their infrared they can pick up a fire from AT LEAST 100 miles, depending on altitude.
Oh, and AMVER is respected by every sailor regardless of the flag they sport.
That’s what I’m saying. Not only were they lucky enough to have a P-3 “nearby,” they had another vessel within 40 miles.
I heard that. Two months ago, a US F-16 had an in-flight emergency due to hydraulic problems and luckily made it to Saipan (about 100 miles from Guam). He overran the runway (he got there, but it sounds like he fully lost hydraulics once he landed and started operating the brakes). Out in the Pacific is a bad place to have problems.
Put ‘coast guard’ into google news anytime. Busy folk.
OK, only somewhat facetiously, AMVER is one thing the government hasn’t screwed up and did something good with.
Any big water with an airplane that glides like a brick is a bad place to be with one engine.
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