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Seven missing persons found in Chuuk seas
SANTA RITA, Guam—U.S. Coast Guard Sector Guam was notified by the Chuuk State, Federated States of Micronesia, Search and Rescue Liaison of an overdue vessel with seven persons onboard on Dec. 24, 2017.
The 24-foot vessel left the island of Weno on Dec. 22 and had not arrived at Hall Islands as anticipated by family members who notified local agencies and began searching for their family.
Coast Guard Sector Guam provided search patterns to the motor vessel Cape Daisy and Calypso Island, who are both registered to the automated mutual-assistance rescue system, a worldwide voluntary reporting system for search and rescue sponsored by the U.S. Coast Guard.
The FSM patrol boat, FSS Independence and Coast Guard cutter Kiska also began searching for the missing vessel, along with a Coast Guard C130 and Navy P8 aircraft providing aerial support.
The FSS Independence located the swamped vessel during its search pattern provided by Sector Guam on Dec. 27, with all seven survivors still on board who were safely transferred back to Chuuk.
The Sector Guam Command duty officer, Jason Roman, said, “It was a great team effort between the FSM search and rescue community and Coast Guard Sector Guam. Communication is always a challenge when dealing with long distance cases but we were able to effectively pass on search patterns and allocate resources to get the job done. We are happy we were able to find them safe and in good health.” (USCG)
