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The project from APOPO, a Belgian non-profit that trains animals to save lives, is fitting rats with small specialized backpacks to help emergency crews search for survivors in the event of building collapses. According to researchers on the project, their small size and excellent smell of the rodents, plus their adventures spirit makes them the perfect animal to help in such disasters. “Rats are typically quite curious and like to explore – and that is key for search and rescue,” says Donna Kean, a behavioral research scientist and leader of the project, per CNN. The rats aren’t ready to be...

Looks can be profoundly deceiving. At first glance, Tracy "Trace" Sargent could easily be a high-powered corporate CEO or lead a marketing firm. This petite Georgia blond with a commanding presence and the charisma and intellect to match, looks like she would fit elegantly at the head of a boardroom. You certainly don't envision this refined, vibrant woman with a sweet Southern drawl to be out enthusiastically hunting lost persons, getting dirty, crawling through rubble, or chasing down fugitives by moonlight. Yet that is exactly what she has been doing with her K9 partners for over 20 years, gracefully shattering...

INVERNESS, Calif. (AP) — An academic couple who got lost during a Valentine's Day hike in the woods of Northern California was found Saturday by rescuers who spent almost a week looking for them and had given up hopes of finding them alive. Carol Kiparsky, 77, and Ian Irwin, 72, were found in a densely forested area near Tomales Bay, a narrow inlet about 30 miles north of San Francisco, and were airlifted to a hospital for treatment of hypothermia, Marin County Sheriff's Sgt. Brenton Schneider said at a news conference. “This is a miracle,” he said. They were unprepared...

The heartbreaking mystery of Jerika Binks, the Utah runner who disappeared over a year ago while on a trail run near her home in American Fork, may finally find some closure. On Monday afternoon, local authorities announced they had found the skeletal remains of a body in the general area that Binks was last known to have been, and with multiple personal items known to belong to Binks, according to a press release issued by the Utah County Sheriff’s Office. The remains showed evidence of an injury, though nothing at this point suggests foul play. Sergeant Spencer Cannon of the...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP BUTLER, Okinawa, Japan – Search and rescue operations were underway for U.S. Marine aircraft that were involved in a ‘mishap’ off of the coast of Japan around 2:00 a.m. Dec. 6, military officials say. The aircraft involved in the mishap had launched from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni and were conducting regularly scheduled training when the mishap occurred — reportedly a refueling exercise.

Val is not just man's best friend - he's the oldest working employee at the Montebello Fire Department and reportedly the oldest working rescue dog in the nation. Photo Gallery: Rescue Dogs in Montebello Val, an Urban Search and Rescue canine with the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, is retiring after 11 years of service and countless rescue missions. During his career, with owner and handler Capt. Marc Valentine of the Montebello Fire Department, Val has trained other rescue dogs, searched for survivors through rubble, and offered solace to firefighters responding to Hurricane Katrina. The golden Labrador mix, which is...

The Los Angeles County Fire Department's Urban Search and Rescue team has found six victims trapped in two collapsed buildings in quake-ravaged Port-au-Prince. The department said Friday that some of the victims of the earthquake that hit Haiti three days ago were still alive under the rubble. Officials say the 28-member team was working into the night to extricate three people found in a three-story home and three more victims buried under a four-story building that"pancaked."

The German shepherd, who lives with his owner, James Symington, in Los Angeles, was picked by BioArts International, a Californian cloning firm, as the most "clone-worthy" canine in a competition offering an owner a free chance to replicate their pet. Mr Symington said he and Trakr were among the first search and rescue teams to arrive at the New York site after the attacks, and were responsible for locating the last human survivor under about 30 feet of debris

Early last month my son, James Kim, died of hypothermia in a snowy wilderness in Oregon after setting out on foot to seek help for his family, who were stranded in a car. My son's death was a tragedy that could have been prevented. A wrong turn on a poorly marked wilderness road need not have resulted in the ordeal of James's wife and two daughters, nor his death while trying desperately to find help. I am sharing some of the hard-learned lessons that I took away from my family's trauma in the hope of making it less likely that...

Searchers failed to exploit vital clues in the hunt for the family of James Kim, including several crucial pieces of evidence that surfaced in the final hours of his life, when he was freezing, alone and lost in the woods. An examination by The Oregonian found a search plagued by confusion, gaps in communication, and failures of leadership in Josephine County, where the Kim family was found. Lt. Brian Powers, the Oregon State Police commander in the region, said the lack of a central command prompted him to take control Sunday, Dec. 3, the day before Kati Kim and her...

MIAMI A passenger reported missing on a cruise to the Bahamas fell overboard after a night of heavy drinking with friends, authorities said Wednesday as Coast Guard crews suspended their search for the man. Friends of Daniel DiPiero, 21, of Canfield, Ohio, last saw him on the Mariner of the Seas around midnight Sunday, Petty Officer Dana Warr said. About two hours later, shipboard security cameras show DiPiero falling overboard from a rail near the front of the ship, investigators said. He was reported missing Monday morning when his friends realized he had not slept in the cabin they shared....

Bangladesh: a building of five floors breaks down, feared victims DACCA - a building of five stages sheltering a textile workshop, stores and offices broke down Saturday in the capital of Bangladesh, Dacca, making fear many victims, one learned from police source. Many employees worked in the textile workshop at the time of the accident, indicated to AFP the assistant prefect of police force of Dacca, Obasidur Rahman. "Of the police officers, the firemen and voluntary are on the spot in order to help the people taken in the debris", it added.

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The U.S. Navy has played a role in the search and rescue of passengers of an Egyptian ferry that sank in the Red Sea. Officials said that on Feb. 4 the U.S. Navy helped search for survivors of the Egyptian ferry that sank in the Red Sea. The ferry, carrying an estimated 1,400 passengers, sank the day before off the coast of Egypt. The navy deployed a P-3 Orion maritime patrol plane to search for survivors. Officials said the U.S. Navy crew flew for almost 15 hours.

Dear Readers: This is my first post on FreeRepublic, and I hope it will be the best place to reach the greatest number of people with the following message... This subject is of importance and concern to us all -- I am providing the link to the online petition site for "Molly's Law", which I hope you will visit and read what we, as a group of search dog handlers from all areas of Law Enforcement and Search and Rescue across the country, are working on to help combat the problem of lost, missing and abducted children and adults. http://www.PetitionOnline.com/MollyLaw/petition.html...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Navy has called off the search for the SB-60B Seahawk helicopter that went down Tuesday in the eastern Pacific, off the coast of Colombia. The aircraft, attached to Mayport Naval Station's Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 48, was conducting anti-narco-terrorism operations off the USS DeWert at the time of the crash. It went down within sight of the frigate. No distress call was received. The names of the three-person crew were not released. The SH-60B Seahawk helicopter was within sight of the frigate USS DeWert when it went down in the eastern Pacific, said Bill Austin, a...

A Marine fighter jet based in North Carolina crashed Tuesday and the Coast Guard and Navy were searching for the pilot. The Marine AV-8B Harrier crashed about 9:20 a.m. about 20 miles off the coast of St. Augustine, said Donnie Brzuska, a Coast Guard spokesman. The Coast Guard located an oil slick from the aircraft, but so far have not found the pilot. Another aircraft pilot reported that the pilot ejected, but he was not seen touching down, Brzuska said. The name of the missing pilot had not been released early Tuesday. The airplane was based at Marine Corps Air...

Got back last night from my third hurricane rescue mission.

BATON ROUGE, La. President Bush on Sunday wrapped up a three-day trip designed to convey hands-on leadership during the Gulf Coast hurricanes, promising to act on military leaders' request for a national search-and-rescue strategy. "It's precisely the kind of information that I'll take back to Washington to help all of us understand how we can do a better job in coordinating federal, state and local response," Bush told commanders. Between his departure from the White House on Friday and his return Sunday afternoon, the president attended more than seven hours of briefings in four cities about Hurricane Rita. On Monday,...

SAN ANTONIO - Military officials told President Bush on Sunday that the U.S. needs a national plan to coordinate search and rescue efforts following natural disasters or terrorist attacks. Bush said he is interested in whether the Defense Department should take charge in massive national disasters. "Clearly, in the case of a terrorist attack, that would be the case, but is there a natural disaster — of a certain size — that would then enable the Defense Department to become the lead agency in coordinating and leading the response effort?" Bush asked. "That's going to be a very important consideration...

Officials Tell President Bush That U.S. Needs Plan to Coordinate Efforts After Natural Disasters By DEB RIECHMANN Associated Press Writer The Associated Press SAN ANTONIO Sep 25, 2005 — Military officials told President Bush on Sunday that the U.S. needs a national plan to coordinate search and rescue efforts following natural disasters or terrorist attacks. Bush said he had stopped at Randolph Air Base in San Antonio and the U.S. Northern Command to better understand how the government can prepare for natural disasters and ease their effects. He said he also wanted to know whether there was times when the...