Archive image: A Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules airplane and a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter starts up for an afternoon flight at Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, Tuesday June 14, 2016.
U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class David Micallef.
PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The Coast Guard and a good Samaritan vessel rescue two sailors approximately 1,726 nautical miles east of Bermuda. Monday, March 4, 2024.
Watchstanders with the Coast Guard 5th District command center received an emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) alert from the 19-foot sailing vessel Lhor One at approximately 6 p.m. Sunday.
Coast Guard 5th District (Mid Atlantic) watchstanders alerted mariners in the area to be on the lookout for the sailors and conducted a query of vessels from Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue (AMVER). The watchstanders also directed the launch of a Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, HC-130 Hercules airplane aircrew to assist.
The HC-130J Super Hercules airplane aircrew arrived on scene at 4:45 a.m. Monday and established communications with the mariners, who reported they were taking on water after a lightning strike reportedly cause a hole in their vessel. The aircrew also directed the 505-foot motor vessel Frio Ionian, an AMVER participating ship, toward the sailing vessel’s position.
The Frio Ionian crew arrived on scene at 10 a.m. and safely transferred a 20-year-old and 24-year-old male from the Lhor One to the motor vessel with no reported injuries.
“This rescue was quite a distance from land and the successful rescue of two sailors was only possible because of the crew of the Frio Ionian’s participation in the AMVER program,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Starr Franklin, a watchstander with the Fifth District command center. “To put the distance from shore in perspective, the mariners were roughly the same as if you drove from Portsmouth, Virginia to Odessa, Texas, near the Texas-New Mexico border.”
AMVER is the Coast Guard Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue program which allows vessels to voluntarily provide position updates for the response to search and rescue around the world.
The Lhor One was sailing from Guadeloupe to France.
–USCG–
For more Hlcopters Magazine breaking news, stories, images and videos visit hlcopters.com and follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.
The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.
