Three Rescued from Yacht in Bass Strait

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) coordinated the rescue of three men from a yacht in Bass Strait yesterday. 
 
At about 7pm AEDT last night, AMSA’s Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC Australia) detected a GPS encoded 406MHz distress beacon in the Bass Strait. The beacon was traced to an 11 metre twin masted yacht in distress about 53 nautical miles south west of Victoria’s Wilson’s Promontory. 
 
RCC Australia tasked AMSA’s Essendon based dedicated search and rescue Dornier aircraft to respond and issued a broadcast to shipping. A nearby cargo ship responded to the broadcast to shipping and headed to the scene. 
 
An Air Ambulance Victoria helicopter was also tasked to assist and dropped a radio to the people on board the yacht. The Dornier aircraft arrived on scene about 8pm AEDT and remained overhead until the rescue was completed. 
 
All three men were rescued from the yacht by the cargo ship about 9.45pm AEDT last night. 
 The rescued men arrived in Melbourne in the early hours of this morning. One of the men was transported to hospital for medical assessment. 
 
This incident is a reminder for distress beacon owners to ensure contact details are up to date. In this incident, the distress beacon was still registered to the yacht’s previous owner; however the fact that the beacon was GPS encoded assisted RCC Australia in pinpointing the yacht’s location within minutes.