Bizarre search and rescue case unfolds in Bermuda Triangle

French and U.S. rescue authorities were alerted to a distress of a 109 foot catamaran 500 miles southeast of Bermuda on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. The crew of the catamaran Mouse Trap activated their Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) after their mast fell killing a crew member.

Rescue authorities in Griz Nes, France received the initial distress call and notified U.S. Coast Guard rescue authorities in Portsmouth, Va. "The vessel is adrift, the tiller and steering gears are in complete failure and the crew is trying to start the engine," French rescue personnel reported.  Coast Guard personnel immediately sent a Coast Guard HC-130 rescue aircraft and used the Amver system to divert the 623 foot bulk carrier Alexandros III. The Marshall Island flagged ship was approximately 100 miles from the distress location.

Two hours after U.S. Coast Guard rescue personnel began managing the rescue effort they received word from the International Emergency Rescue Coordination Center reporting the crew of the Mouse Trap were no longer in distress. The aircraft and Amver ship were released from the search. French rescue authorities kept radio communications with the catamaran until it arrived in St. Martin.

The Alexandros III, managed by Gourdomichalis Maritime of Piraeus, Greece, enrolled in the Amver system on February 8, 2012.

Photo credit: marinetraffic.com