Man, cat ‘lucky’ to be rescued, Queensland Police say
Police issue a stern reminder to update emergency beacon contact details after early morning rescueQueensland Police has urged boaters to update EPIRB contact details after a man and his cat were left stranded on rocks near Cooktown late last week.
Emergency services swung into action about 10pm on Thursday night after an unregistered EPIRB emergency beacon was activated.
The emergency was sparked by a man, travelling from Cooktown to Cairns with his cat, whose boat had drifted onto rocks and holed after the engine died about 10 hours into the trip.
The Canberra-based Joint Rescue Coordination Centre scrambled a QGAir helicopter and a Challenger aircraft to search the area for the source of the signal, with the helicopter locating the boat a short time later.
The man and his cat were winched to safety, with the man taken to hospital after he slipped on rocks and injured himself during the rescue.
Cooktown Police Senior Sergeant John McArthur said the skipper was lucky that rescue services were able to locate him so quickly even though his EIPRB was not registered.
“Police and Queensland boating and fisheries patrol officers are often out conducting checks of safety equipment,” McArthur said.
“This may be done at the boat ramp or on the water, and fines may be issued in some cases.
“It is crucial to provide accurate details to help emergency services respond in a timely manner,” he said.
Transferring ownership
EPIRB registrations are managed by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. By law, the owner of a boat is responsible for ensuring an EPIRB’s contact details are up to date.
When a boat is sold, owners can log into the AMSA website and change the EPIRB’s status to flag it has a new owner.
EPIRB owners can also use the AMSA website to provide details of a trip.
The AMSA website also can provide Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) numbers that will broadcast a distress signal with the boat’s location if you push a VHF radio’s digital selective calling (DSC) button in an emergency.
However, the DSC button will only pass on those details only to other DSC-equipped boats within VHF radio range, which is about an 8.0-kilometre radius.
In contrast, an EPIRB signal is picked up by satellites and fed directly to the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Canberra, which is monitored all the time.
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