(Photo : Photo by Muhammad Saushan/ Unsplash)
Lt. Col. Jason Palmeira-Yen, the pilot of the KC-135, said that they were already towards the end of their search pattern when they turned around in order to avoid rain showers. That was when they spotted the island, and when they decided to check it out they found the “SOS” message on the beach alongside the boat that carried the missing mariners.
A message written on the sand saved three missing mariners who got stuck on a tiny Pacific Island, after US Air Force found their "SOS" message on the beach who did an air search, according to Australian and US authorities, Tuesday.
Last Thursday, the men set out to journey to Pulap reef from Puwalat atoll in the Federated States of Micronesia. They were aboard a 23-foot boat and were supposed to journey about 26 miles to their destination.
However, the three mariners went off-course and ran out of fuel. Thus, they ended up in the shores of an uninhabited island known as Pikelot. According to Australian and Us authorities, the said island is about 118 miles from their supposed destination.
When the men did not arrive in their intended destination, the US Coast Guard's Joint Rescue Sub Center in Guam immediately requested a search to be done. The Coast Guards also enlisted the help of several units within the region comprising the islands which are located at about 500 miles south of Guam.
According to CNN, a US Air Force KC-135 tanker first spotted the three Micronesian mariners. The said tanker operated from the Andersen Air Force Base on Guam and found the men after three hours of searching based on the information posted on the Facebook page of the base.
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In a statement by Lt. Col. Jason Palmeira-Yen, the pilot of the KC-135, they were already towards the end of their search pattern when they turned around in order to avoid rain showers. That was when they spotted the island, and when they decided to check it out they found the "SOS" message on the beach alongside the boat that carried the missing mariners. After this, they then called the Australian Navy who has two nearby helicopters that could help in the rescue and land on the uninhabited island.
An Australian helicopter that was from the HMAS Canberra, an amphibious assault ship, then landed on the beach in order to drop water and food to the three men while troops were still confirming their identities and were checking for any serious injuries.
On the other hand, a radio was dropped to the men by a US Coast Guard C-130 from Hawaii so that they would access communication to a Micronesian patrol vessel. Moreover, the US Coast Guard stated that the rescuers kept their distance from the stranded mariners due to the threat of COVID-19.
At around 8 PM on Monday, a patrol vessel dispatched from Yap reached the men.
In a report by The Week, Capt Christopher Chase of the US Coast Guard and commander of the US Coast Guard Sector Guam stated that it was partnerships that made the rescue successful. He added that though proper coordination with the different response organizations, the three mariners have safely returned to their families.
In addition, the commander of Canberra, Capt, Terry Morrison praised the professionalism displayed by his crew amid the search and rescue operation.
Andersen KC-135 crew locates missing mariners on lone Pacific island Andersen KC-135 crew locates missing mariners on lone Pacific island Guardsmen from the 203rd Air Refueling Squadron, Hawaii Air National Guard (ANG) and the 171st Air Refueling Wing, Pennsylvania National Guard deployed here, were the first to locate three missing mariners during a search and rescue mission in the Federated States of Micronesia southwest of Guam, Aug. 2, 2020 (ChST). On July 29, three mariners aboard a 23-foot white and blue skiff departed Puluwat Atoll intending to travel approximately 21 nautical miles to Pulap, Chuuk. However, they never made it to their destination and were reported missing. “Joint Rescue Sub-Center Guam received notification of an overdue skiff last seen in the vicinity of Chuuk and requested our assistance,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Shaun McRoberts, 506th Air Expeditionary Aerial Refueling Squadron assistant director of operations. “Once notified, we began immediately working a plan to launch crews to locate the missing vessel.” Hawaii Air National Guardsmen Lt. Col. Jason Palmeira-Yen, Maj. Byron Kamikawa, Tech. Sgt. Shane Williams along with Pennsylvania Air National Guardsmen Tech. Sgt. Rodney Joseph and Senior Airman Jeremy Williams took off from Andersen AFB in their KC-135 Stratotanker destined to locate the missing vessel. After almost three hours into their mission and flying at about 1,500 feet, the crew located the mariners on the tiny island of Pikelot, Yap. “We were toward the end of our search pattern,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Jason Palmeira-Yen, the KC-135 pilot. “We turned to avoid some rain showers and that’s when we looked down and saw an island, so we decide to check it out and that’s when we saw SOS and a boat right next to it on the beach. From there we called in the Australian Navy because they had two helicopters nearby that could assist and land on the island.” The Royal Australian Navy ship HMAS Canberra (L02) was also in the region and agreed to divert and provide search sorties with embarked helicopters while the FSS Independence departed from Yap to assist. A helicopter crew from HMAS Canberra delivered supplies to the stranded mariners while a U.S. Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules from Air Station Barbers Point, Hawaii airdropped a radio and message block informing them the FSS Independence was en-route to rescue and return them home. "Partnerships" said U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Christopher Chase, Coast Guard Sector Guam, commander. "This is what made this search and rescue case successful. Through coordination with multiple response organizations, we were able to save three members of our community and bring them back home to their families.” At 12 a.m., August 3 (HST), the Independence arrived on scene, launched a small boat crew and rescued the mariners. By Master Sgt. Richard P. Ebensberger, 36th Wing Public Affairs United States Air Force, U.S. Pacific Air Forces, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Air Mobility Command, Joint Region Marianas Posted by Andersen Air Force Base, Guam on Monday, August 3, 2020
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