Coast Guard, good Samaritan vessel rescue 2 mariners more than 1,700 miles east of Bermuda

UNITED STATES

03.04.2024

Courtesy Story

U.S. Coast Guard District 5   

PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The Coast Guard and a good Samaritan vessel rescued two mariners Monday, approximately 1,726 miles east of Bermuda.

Watchstanders with the Fifth Coast Guard 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.
Fifth District 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 crew to assist.
The airplane crew 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 mariners 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 -

• Date Taken: 03.04.2024
• Date Posted: 03.04.2024 16:18
• Story ID: 465317
• Location: US