2 men rescued off Saipan coast

A rescue operation on Saturday for two men who were adrift on their boat off the coast of Saipan ended happily with both men hoisted aboard a rescue helicopter.

The search began Saturday afternoon after the two men failed to return home after a fishing trip.

The fishermen on board the M/V Serenity had reported engine failure to the vessel owner around Marpi Banks, Saipan, early morning on Saturday, Feb. 25.

After searching for several hours, the owner reported the overdue vessel to the Department of Public Safety’s Boating Safety Division. DPS immediately launched Zodiac I and III and two jet skis in search of the lost vessel.

The Joint Rescue Sub-Center in Guam also received a distress call over Channel 16 and, in coordination with Emergency Operations Center Saipan, was able to correlate the call to the same case that DPS was responding to.

At the request of U.S. Coast Guard Sector Guam, a Knighthawk helicopter from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25 launched from Andersen Air Force Base at 2:45pm. An initial search by yielded no results.

After returning for a second search, JRSC Guam heard several “clicking” sounds coming from Channel 16. The sounds were being received by a Rescue 21 radio tower, which used its direction finding capabilities to determine the source was coming from east of the search area. JRSC quickly updated the search pattern and diverted the helicopter to the new area.

The helicopter was able to locate and hoist the two men from their vessel at 10:20pm and brought them to the Francisco C. Ada Saipan International Airport, where they were met by emergency medical services.

Rescue 21 is a computer-based system that receives and displays radio traffic from distress Channel 16 or frequency 156.8 MHz, allowing the U.S. Coast Guard to visualize and see the direction the distress call is being made from. Having a marine band radio on board the M/V Serenity was a large component in saving the men’s lives. Without their radio capabilities the Coast Guard would not have been able to receive the mayday call or radio “clicks” that assisted with locating the vessel.

This exemplified a skilled coordination integration among the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, EOC, and DPS Saipan on a complex case in an inherently difficult area to complete a successful search and rescue that ultimately saved two lives.

HSC-25 is the Navy’s only forward-deployed MH-60S expeditionary squadron. As a part of Helicopter Sea Combat Wing Pacific, it provides an armed helicopter capability for U.S. 7th Fleet in support of logistics, search and rescue and humanitarian assistance missions. HSC-25 is also the only squadron that maintains a 24-hour search-and-rescue and medical evacuation alert posture, directly supporting the U.S. Coast Guard and Joint Region Marianas.

“This incident is an example of the types of situations our sailors train for day in and day out,” said HSC-25 commanding officer Cmdr. Edward Weiler. “In an era where most missions and training exercises are planned well in advance, SAR is a unique mission that time-critical problem solving and decision making.” (Saipan Tribune, USCG, Commander, Joint Region Marianas)