The search and rescue tasks occurred throughout Sunday, 30 November in the Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland; Point Danger and Fingal Head in New South Wales; and Kingston, South Australia.
About 1.40am AEDT on Sunday morning, AMSA Search and Rescue detected an unregistered distress beacon near Mornington Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria. AMSA's dedicated search and rescue Dornier aircraft and a rescue helicopter from Cairns were tasked to respond. The Dornier aircraft was able to locate the vessel in distress with four people on board, and remained overhead until first light. The rescue helicopter winched the four people on board and transported them to Normanton.
About 10.15am AEDT on Sunday, 30 November, AMSA Search and Rescue detected a registered distress beacon near Fingal Head. The Volunteer Marine Rescue vessel from Point Danger was tasked and later located the three people associated with the beacon on board a fishing vessel. The vessel had picked up the people when their five metre fishing boat had overturned. No injuries were reported.
About 4pm AEDT on Sunday, 30 November, a registered distress beacon was detected. AMSA Search and Rescue was able to reach the emergency contact listed for the beacon and was able to quickly establish that the beacon related to two people fishing off Kingston in South Australia. AMSA tasked a rescue helicopter and contacted the South Australia Water Police who advised a flare had also been sighted in the area and a State Emergency Service vessel had been tasked. Two people were recovered from the water by the SES vessel. No injuries were reported.
The fourth search and rescue incident occurred off Point Danger in New South Wales. AMSA Search and Rescue detected a registered distress beacon about 8.30pm AEDT on Sunday.
AMSA Search and Rescue tasked a rescue helicopter, Gold Coast Water Police, and the Volunteer Marine Rescue from Point Danger to respond. The rescue helicopter was the first on scene and spotted three people in the water. The Volunteer Marine Rescue vessel recovered the people from the water.
AMSA Search and Rescue also assisted Tasmania Police in the rescue of three people overnight which were reported overdue from a fishing trip out of Devonport on Sunday. AMSA Search and Rescue assisted police by issuing a broadcast to shipping and undertaking drift modelling. A Tasmania Police helicopter located the three people and transported them to safety.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) encourages the use of GPS encoded 406MHz distress beacons. It is also important for beacon owners to register their beacon. Beacons can be registered for free online on AMSA's website or by calling 1800 406 406.