AMVER-Participating Bulker Carrier Helps Rescue Three Overdue Boaters in Central Pacific

A Panama-flagged bulk carrier assisted in the rescue of three overdue boaters Thursday near the Chuuk Atoll in the central Pacific.

Watchstanders at the U.S. Coast Guard’s Sector Guam received a call Tuesday from the Chuuk search and rescue liaison requesting assistance in searching for an overdue 19-foot skiff with four men aboard reported missing since Sunday.

Three male survivors were located by the AMVER-participating MV Nord Venus approximately 23 miles north of Chuuk.

A HC-130 Hercules airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point, Oahu is searching for the fourth crewman and a Navy P-8 airplane crew from the Kadena Air Base in Japan was expected to join the search today.

The men departed Weno, Chuuk, and were en route Fananu Island, Hall Islands but never arrived at their destination. Their vessel began to take on water approximately four hours after departing, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

As part of the U.S. Coast Guard sponsored AMVER program, the commercial vessel’s Pro Emerald, New Stage and Nord Venus all assisted in the search.

AMVER is a unique, computer-based, and voluntary global ship reporting system used worldwide by search and rescue authorities to arrange for assistance to persons in distress at sea. With AMVER, rescue coordinators can identify participating ships in the area of distress and divert the best-suited ship or ships to respond.

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