MISSING SAILORS FOUND; one dead, one alive

PORTSMOUTH, Va. - One sailor was rescued and one was recovered deceased from the sailing vessel Almeisan early today 400 miles off the Virginia coast.

Thomas Tighe, 65, from Patterson, N.Y., was discovered at 5:45 a.m. today deceased. His body was recovered by the motor vessel Sakura Express, a Panamanian-flagged tanker ship that has been assisting in the search and rescue since early Sunday.

Lochlin Reidy, 58, from Woodbridge, Conn., was rescued from the water at 4 a.m. alive. He is currently aboard the Sakura Express.

The search for the men began Sunday morning after Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center Norfolk (RCC) received an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPRIB) from the Almeisan at 6 a.m. A C-130 airplane from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., was launched and upon arriving at the location, the crew discovered a life raft. The sailors aboard the Almeisan reported that Tighe and Reidy had abandoned the Almeisan into a life raft.

Several surface and air assets were involved in the search throughout the day and evening, including three C-130 airplanes and two HH-60 Jayhawk helicopters from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., four merchant ships and an airplane from Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Three sailors still aboard the Almeisan were hoisted at 7:30 p.m. Sunday by a Coast helicopter and taken to Nantucket.

The Sakura Express is making way to Boston and is scheduled to arrive early Tuesday.

The Sakura Express was one of four Amver vessels to respond and divert to the search and rescue Sunday. Amver, sponsored by the Coast Guard, 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.

Amver's mission is to quickly provide search and rescue authorities, on demand, accurate information on the positions and characteristics of vessels near a reported distress.

The name Amver is derived from its original incarnation in 1958 as the Atlantic Merchant Vessel Emergency Reporting System.



THREE SAILORS RESCUED, SEARCH CONTINUES FOR TWO SAILORS

PORTSMOUTH, Va. - Three sailors were hoisted from a sailing vessel 400 miles off Virginia while a search continues for the remaining two crewmembers.

Thomas Tighe, from Patterson, N.Y., and Lochlin Reidy, from Woodbridge, Conn., are missing from their 45-foot sailing vessel, Almeisan, after encountering 28 to 33-knot winds and taking on water from 16 to 20-foot seas. Three additional sailors, Ronald Burd, from Dover, N.H., Christopher Ferrer, from Sterling, Mass., and Kathleen Gilchrist, from Bloomfield, N.J., have been hoisted from the Almeisan and transferred to Nantucket in a Coast Guard helicopter.

Four ships and a C-130 airplane from Air Station Clearwater, Fla., continue to search the area for the two missing sailors. An additional airplane from Halifax, Canada is en route to assist.

The first notification of the distress came into Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center Norfolk (RCC) this morning after they received a Electronic Positioning Indicating Radio Beacon (EPRIB) from the Almeisan at 6 a.m. A C-130 airplane from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., was launched and upon arriving at the location, the crew discovered a life raft. The sailors aboard the Almeisan reported that Tighe and Reidy had abandoned the Almeisan into a life raft.

The sailors were on a voyage from Bridgeport, Conn., to Bermuda when they encountered the severe weather.

Two had abandoned their vessel for life raft, then drifted away
PORTSMOUTH, Va. - A local Coast Guard command center is coordinating the rescue efforts today of two men in a life raft approximately 400 miles east of Virginia Beach, Va.

Thomas Tighe, from Patterson, N.Y., and Lochlin Reidy, from Woodbridge, Conn., abandoned their 45-foot sailing vessel, Almeisan, after encountering 28 to 33-knot winds and taking on water from 16 to 20-foot seas. Three additional sailors, Donald Burd, from Dover, N.H., Christopher Ferrer, from Sterling, Mass., and Kathleen Gilchrist, from Bloomfield, N.J., choose to stay aboard the Almeisan.

Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center Norfolk (RCC) received a Electronic Positioning Indicating Radio Beacon (EPRIB) from the Almeisan at 6 a.m. today and launched a C-130 airplane from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C. When the airplane arrived at the Almeisan, the sailors told rescuers that the life raft, which had been tethered to the Almeisan, had broken free and Tighe and Reidy had drifted from the sail boat.

The aircrew dropped a second life raft and a dewatering pump to the Almeisan and began searching for Tighe and Reidy. Shortly after, the aircrew located the covered life raft about 50 miles away.

Four AMVER vessels has been diverted and the nearest one is expected to arrive at the life raft at 2 p.m. today. A Coast Guard HH-60 helicopter, also from Elizabeth City, is currently aboard USS Trenton, about 300 miles from the life raft, and ready to assist if necessary. The C-130 airplane will remain with the life raft until the additional rescue assets arrive.

The sailors were on a voyage from Bridgeport, Conn., to Bermuda when they encountered the severe weather.

This is the fifth weather-related search and rescue case RCC Norfolk has coordinated in the past three days. The Coast Guard urges all mariners to make preparations when planning a voyage on the water, whether it be for one hour or one week. Some of the basic recommendations are to check the weather before and during your trip, tell a family or friend where you are going and when you will return, wear you life jacket while underway, and always have a reliable means of communications, such as a marine radio and EPIRB - not just a cell phone. Additional information and tips on safe boating can be found at http://www.uscgboating.org/