Amver ship rescues 2 from missing skiff

An Amver participating wood chip carrier rescued a young boy and man after their 14-foot skiff was swept out to sea near the Namoluk Atoll  in the South Pacific Ocean on Sunday, February 2, 2014.

At 9:41 a.m. Monday, rescue authorities at the Coast Guard Sector Guam Command Center received a report from Pan-Pacific Education and Communications by satellite of a skiff that had been swept out to sea in the high tide and poor weather near Namoluk Atoll, Chuuk. They had paddles but no motor and minimal food aboard the vessel.

Coast Guard authorities in Guam notified the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) Maritime Surveillance Advisor, FSM Search and Rescue Coordinator, Chuuk Search and Rescue Liaison, U.S. Embassy in Pohnpei and the Coast Guard Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Honolulu.

The Amver system was also queried and the Amver participating 656 foot wood-chip carrier Ocean Pegasus was diverted, along with another Amver ship, to search for the missing skiff. A Coast Guard rescue aircraft from Air Station Barbers Point on Oahu and a Navy P-8A Poseidon from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa also participated in the search.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014 the Ocean Pegasus located the skiff and safely rescued the 44-year-old man and nine-year-old boy. The two survivors remain aboard the Marshall Island flagged ship and are reported in good health.

The Ocean Pegasus, managed by Hachiuma Steamship Company of Kobe, Japan, enrolled in Amver on October 13, 2008.

Photo credit: marinetraffic.com