U.S. Coast Guard and Canadian Coast Guard crews teamed up to rescue four boaters whose boat started taking on water in the vicinity of Grenadier Island, Ontario, Canada, near the St. Lawrence Seaway.
At 12:54, a search-and-rescue coordinator at Coast Guard Sector Buffalo, New York, overheard a broadcast from Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Trenton, Ontario, with the broadcast stating a 36′ vessel with four people aboard was taking on water.
Although JRCC Trenton was the search-and-rescue mission coordinator, Sector Buffalo directed the launch of a rescue boatcrew from Coast Guard Station Alexandria Bay, New York. A rescue boatcrew aboard a 25′ Response Boat-Small quickly responded and arrived on scene with the distressed boaters and started assisting them. As the boat was being dewatered, the Canadian Coast Guard 47′ rescue boat Cape Hearn arrived on scene and relieved the Alexandria Bay boatcrew.
“Because we share a national border with Canada, and we share waterways like the St. Lawrence Seaway, it takes a lot of coordination to pull successful rescues off,” says Paul Angelillo, a search-and-rescue coordinator at Sector Buffalo. “But because we train together and work these cases together all the time, we trust each other in all aspects of the search-and-rescue coordination process.” CASE CLOSED
