SnapTrack would have saved this father and son, drowned as the tide came in over an hour and rescuers nearby couldn't locate them in the fog. If Globalstar was run properly, it would have saved many people if they could have called for help.
news-journalonline.com
<LONDON -- A man and his 9-year-old son, trapped on a beach in northwestern England by a swift incoming tide, drowned as searchers talking to them by cellphone raced against time to reach them, police said Sunday.
Stewart Rushton, 51, and his son Adam had gone fishing Saturday on the beach at Morecambe Bay, an area of channels and treacherous tides near their home in Dalton-in-Furness, 45 miles north of Liverpool.
After they had walked out onto the sands for 10 minutes, a heavy fog rolled in suddenly and Rushton, realizing they were lost, made an emergency call at 2:30 p.m., the coast guard said. He had already called his wife and asked her to call the coast guard.
In a series of increasingly desperate phone calls between Rushton and the police and the coast guard, the emergency services tried to pinpoint the pair's location as the tide began to rush in.
Coast guard teams from four locations scoured the coast, aided by two powerful oceangoing lifeboats, two local mountain rescue teams, police and a Royal Air Force helicopter. Thick fog reduced visibility to 25 yards, the coast guard spokesman said.
At 3:07, Rushton said the water was up to his neck. Adam, sitting on his father's shoulders, answered the phone.
"My dad is all right," the boy said before passing the phone to his father, according to coast guard spokesman, who had called Rushton.
"He was shouting. I said, Be reassured, we have got units coming to your assistance,'" the spokesman said on condition of anonymity. "It became very distressing for both sides."
"We could hear the sound of water and the father was shouting," he said.
Officers standing on the shore could hear his cries but dared not enter the water because of the treacherous tide. Police later tried to call the mobile phone but failed to get through.
"He sounded as though he was a few hundred yards offshore but with the fog and the mist, they couldn't tell where he was," said Police Constable Tony Hawson. ...contd... > |
