Police come to rescue of stranded boat
(CNS): On Tuesday the Joint Marine Unit, assisted by the police helicopter and the US Coast Guard, came to the rescue of a stranded boat, which had four people on board, that was running out of fuel some 70 miles off the coast of the Cayman Islands. Police were alerted that something might be wrong by the family of the people on board after they lost contact with them during their journey from Tampa, Florida, back to Grand Cayman.
Police were informed at around 8am Tuesday that the family had last spoken with the people on board when the boat was just off the Cuban coast. The JMU notified the US Coast Guard and asked them for assistance.
An emergency positioning beacon on the vessel had been activated by those on board, and that was picked up by the coast guard in Miami, who provided coordinates, enabling the chopper to find and contact the boat directly. They soon learned that vessel was in good condition and the occupants were in good health but the boat did not have enough fuel to get them home.
As a result the boaters organised another private vessel to bring the needed fuel, and that afternoon the helicopter launched again to help get the two boats together and co-ordinate the fuel transfer, which took place around 40 miles off the coast of Grand Cayman. The boat arrived back in Grand Cayman just after 9pm in the evening Tuesday, with their safe arrival monitored and confirmed by the JMU.
Category: Local News
Was this boat being motored from Tampa to save shipping charges, the owners should reimburse Government for all their expenses.
Cayman culture is full of couch warriors who have learned everything from the TV. Have they ever done anything themselves that they are now so smart at? Should anyone else listen to their lack of experience besides CIG? If you are a fool then yes.
What a bunch of idiots.
Did it really take the helicopter to guide the two boats together? If each knows the latitude and longitude of the other a child could figure out the course to steer to meet up.
This is the trouble with allowing people with too much money and no maritime knowledge to buy and operate boats; obviously the owners didn’t even realise the crew they were/are employing are incompetent.
Glad everyone was found safe and no souls lost. However, who pays for this? I can understand accidents or acts of weather but incompetence of the boat captain, engineer and first mate? Surly tax payers should not be burden with this cost.
1.04pm, exactly what I thought. I am guessing the risky work was actually done by the helicopter, then the civilian boat going out over 40 miles working with the helicopter team. Why did the marine unit not go out and help instead of leaving the civilians yet again to work with the helicopter.
First off you need to think the story through.
#1 The vessel WAS NOT IN DISTRESS. They were running out of fuel, yes, but had not as yet AND were making way to Cayman.
#2 The JMU vessel did go out, but returned when it was relayed the vessel ONLY needed fuel.
#3 The JMU IS NOT A SALVAGE COMPANY. They are only there to SAVE LIFE. Nobody can justify tying up resources because someone ran out fuel and the rescuers were engaged towing a vessel when someone genually needs to be rescued from drowning.
#4 If the JMU had gone to the vessel then it would ONLY be the people coming back, not the boat.
The US Coast Guard would have done the same thing. They tell you that they do not engage in towing. They will come and get you off the vessel only.
Think about it really. Use common sense. You will end up with the same coclusion.
Sounds to me you work for the JMU, slighlty defensive here. Why did they return and not carry on to meet the vessel? Combine it with a patrol as well. To be fair, the JMU don’t do a lot. When was the last life they saved? The vessel was running out of fuel, so could have easily become a problem.
Sounds to me like you got a hard on for them. And NO I aint one of them.
Maybe your one of the Smugglers who got caught………. Or maybe a moron looking for fame.
Either way you definitely need to lay off the happy smoke, snort, drink, meds (or all four). You gonna pop a vein. You need to get out more, or maybe its a good thing you don’t.
Leave the work to the professionals and don’t quit your day job.
CIG send them a bill for being stupid!
Oh the irony!
In the real world the Captain and chief engineer would both been fired for running out of fuel
How do you miscalculate fuel requirements by 70 miles? Talk about qualified captains smh!
Qualified Captain of the year contender for sure!
No reason to save lives if drugs na involved I guess
Another case where an inexpensive EPIRB saved lives
Civilians rescued them, the police just took a picture from the helicopter. Well done to the Reel Vibes crew on the rescue.
And the civilians knew where the boat was how…
I agree. The police and the public should work together less…
Well done, responders. This is the kind of joint effort that saves lives. Also glad how apparently smoothly the liaison between Cayman and U.S. officers went; no harm in practicing coordinating efforts.
Bill the boaters.
So where is the so call police boat the they said rescued the stranded vessel in this picture ????????
They never sent the own police boat…it is a private boat that already been ask for help. It is cayman police helicopter help to get both boat together to transfer fuel.
Read much?
The ‘problem’ is in the opening sentence: “On Tuesday the Joint Marine Unit, assisted by the police helicopter and the US Coast Guard, came to the rescue of a stranded boat,” On first blush it reads like the JMU [boat] was involved in a rescue. By the end of the article it sounds like JMU were the communication coordinators responsible for
1) Getting the ‘lost contact’ call from the family
2) getting the EPIRB location from the US Coast Guard for the helicopter
3) (I assume) acting as communication hub with the boat/helicopter and family, and perhaps helping the family arrange for the private vessel to take the fuel out.
4) Then issuing this press release that JMU … “came to the assistance of a stranded boat”. Which they did. Just not physically.
Thank you! I think you’ve created the proper flowchart of events.