NEWS RELEASE
Man overboard rescued 13 nautical miles west of Kyuquot Channel
July 11, 2016 – Comox – National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces
On Monday, July 11th, 2016, 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron was tasked by Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) Victoria to assist the Canadian Coast Guard in a rescue operation 13 nautical miles west of Kyuquot Channel.
QUICK FACTS
- Kyuquot Channel is on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
- A call was received by JRCC Victoria to provide assistance for a ‘man overboard’.
- Canadian Coast Guard Inshore Rescue Boat (IRB) 507 located and rescued the man who had fallen overboard from a small fishing vessel about three hours earlier.
- The man was subsequently hoisted aboard a CH-149 Cormorant helicopter crewed by members of Comox-based 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron.
- The patient was flown to Comox and transferred to the local hospital by BC Emergency Health Services ambulance.
- 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron Cormorant and Buffalo aircraft are the Victoria Joint Rescue Coordination Centre’s (JRCC) primary means for aviation and marine SAR responses in the Victoria Search and Rescue Region (SRR). These aircraft and their highly trained crews are ready to respond to a SAR on a 24 hour basis.
- The Victoria SRR includes 1.4 million square kilometres of mainly mountainous terrain in British Columbia and the Yukon, extending approximately 600 nautical miles offshore into the Pacific Ocean. Given the size and complexity of this SRR, SAR crews operating in this region are highly skilled and ready to confront the challenges of this region in order to save lives.
- The Victoria Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC Victoria), in Esquimalt, B.C., is the joint Canadian Armed Forces–Canadian Coast Guard centre for SAR monitoring, alerting and emergency response in the Victoria SRR.
