207 People Rescued by NOAA Satellites

Satellites from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) helped rescue 207 people who found themselves in life-threatening situations all over the United States and surrounding waters.

Distress signals were picked up through emergency beacons that were carried by shipwrecked boaters, lost hikers, and downed pilots. Information about locations was then relayed to ground emergency crews.

NOAA's geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites are part of COSPAS-SARSAT, a global rescue tracking system. It utilizes a network of satellites to find distress signals coming from emergency beacons on boats and aircraft, and from PLBs, which are personal handheld locator beacons.

Of the 207 lives saved in 2011: 

• 122 of them were in the water;
• 71 were on land and used their personal PLBs; and
• 14 were victims of aviation incidents. 

Highlights of the rescues include 2 people who were pulled from a life raft in the middle of the night when their boat sank near Marco Island, FL, and an elderly hiker who was stranded amid a snowstorm in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Furthermore, over 30,000 rescues have been achieved in the world, including over 6,700 here in the U.S. and surrounding waters due to the support of COSPAS-SARSAT.

Contact a Louisiana Maritime Lawyer

The Jones Act law provides you with certain protections your employer may not want you to know about. A Jones Act attorney from The Young Firm in New Orleans, Louisiana, can help you if you have suffered an offshore accident or other maritime accidents, or if you want to know how to file a worker's comp claim. Though we are based in Louisiana, we are ready and able to help injured victims throughout the U.S. Order our free Maritime Injury Law guide and/or our guide to what to do when you are injured offshore to learn all about your rights as an injured worker. 

When you are ready to get started with your Jones Act injury case, we urge you to contact us today for a FREE case evaluation – call 504-680-4100 or toll-free at 866-938-6113.