Responding to its first emergency of 2010, the Amver network orchestrated the rescue of a solo sailor in the Pacific Ocean near Wake Island. George Shaver lost his rudder in a storm on January 12th and was rescued by the Singapre-flagged bulk carrier Emerald Indah.
From the press release:
Search and rescue personnel at the Joint Rescue Coordination Center Honolulu received the distress alert and immediately launched a Coast Guard search aircraft while requesting commercial ships in the area to divert as well. Several merchant ships, including the Amver participating cargo ship Emerald Indah, responded to the request for help.
The Coast Guard aircraft was able to drop survival equipment and a radio to Shaver while one of the commercial ships searched for him. Unfortunately the first ship on the scene was unable to locate the sailboat despite searching several hours. The Coast Guard aircraft was able to relocate Shaver and directed the Emerald Indah to his exact location.
The Captain of the Emerald Indah maneuvered his 77,000 dead weight bulker into position and ordered his crew to prepare for rescue operations. Mr. Shaver was rescued without incident, suffered no injuries, and is aboard the Emerald Indah as it sails to its next port call in Hawaii.
Click here to read the PDF (requires Adobe reader)…
