CONTACT: Patricia Viets FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
7/3/96
Polar-orbiting satellites operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently helped save the lives of two boaters in Nuka Bay, Alaska.
The boaters were in their vessel Kamishak Queen in the bay on July 2 when the boat sank. They escaped on a liferaft and activated their emergency beacon. Its signal was picked up by the COSPAS-SARSAT search and rescue satellite system and relayed to the NOAA ground station in Fairbanks, Alaska. The information was relayed to the U.S. Mission Control Center in NOAA's Suitland, Md., facility, and rescue forces were alerted.
COSPAS-SARSAT is an international, cooperative, humanitarian program for detecting and locating persons in distress worldwide. NOAA, a Commerce Department agency, is the lead agency for the participation of the United States in the program. Since the inception of the program 13 years ago, more than 6100 lives have been saved. These include mariners stranded at sea, downed aviators, and lost hikers.