Tuesday, June 23, 200923rd June 2009
Time of Call: 1707, Time of Launch: Gorda Peak 1721 & Spirit crew paged.
Male dinghy passenger missing en route from Biras Creek to Gun Creek, Virgin Gorda. The female passenger was knocked into the water, the male passenger disembarked to assist but after helping her back into the vessel was unable to reboard himself. Due to major misunderstanding of the VISAR system, VISAR was not called immediately. By the time both VISAR rescue vessels were launched prescious time had lapsed. A call came into the coordinator reporting a male had been recovered and was at Gun Creek, VG and was being attended to by Fire & Rescue EMT. Grief councellors were requested at the scene. Both VISAR rescue vessels stood down at 1758.
Due to the gap in communication uncovered by this tragic event VISAR is launching a fresh campaign to make sure everyone living in or visiting the territory is fully aware of VISAR, what we do and how to contact us.