The Finnish Coastguard reported to Falmouth that they had received a satellite telephone call from a sailor aboard a Finnish registered yacht reporting that himself and a friend were in a distress situation aboard their 35 foot yacht.
The yacht and the two sailors departed the Azores on the 7 th May.
Their position is 840 nautical miles from the Isles of Scilly which is within the search and rescue region of the United Kingdom.
Falmouth Coastguard are coordinating the incident to rescue the two men.
A broadcast was made by Falmouth using EGC (Enhanced Group Calling) via satellite to all ships that may be near to the distressed yacht.
They received several responses from commercial ships who offered assistance.
Two tankers that were nearest have been requested to divert to the last known position of the yacht to help the sailors. They are the Stolt Invention and the Norgas Invention.
ARCC Kinloss made arrangements for a VC10 aircraft from RAF Brize Norton to go to the position to provide surveillance and radio communications link for Falmouth Coastguard.
The sailors have now activated their EPIRB (Emergency position Indicating Radio Beacon) which enables the Coastguard to receive an accurate position of the distressed yacht.
Andy Cattrell, Watch Manager , Falmouth Coastguard said:
After issuing our EGC Broadcast, we received several offers of assistance from commercial vessels to go to the aid of these distressed sailors.
The nearest vessel Norgas Invention should reach the vessel within the next couple of hours.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff , May 10, 2012