OUR FINEST
TEAM REPRESENTS THE BEST WORLDWIDE
Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence with Marine Rescue Port Macquarie members Rob Breskal, Gary White, Bill Richardson and Chris Condon and Mattias Malmgren, from International Maritime Rescue Federation awards sponsor CM Hammar. Below: The team who responded.
T
en volunteers from Marine Rescue Port Macquarie were this year lauded on the world and national stages for an operation to save the lives of three seriously injured men on a sinking motor cruiser in the pitch dark off Crescent Head in April 2019. The MR Port Macquarie members were named as the winner of the Outstanding Team Contribution to a Maritime Search and Rescue Operation category of the 2019 International Maritime Rescue Federation Awards, announced in London on September 10. The trophy was presented to four unit representatives by Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence in a ceremony on board HQS Wellington, which is permanently moored on the Thames. On the same night, the unit also received a Professional Commendation Award in the National Search and Rescue Awards. The Port Macquarie 30 crew members who took part in the operation were Chris Condon, Bill Richardson, Yolanda Bosschieter, Reg McGlashan and Tony Hallett, along with the PM 20 crew, Rob Breskal and Owen Coulls. Deputy Unit Commander Graham Gibbs and Gary White were the Watch Officers on duty, with Unit Commander Greg Davies and Mid North Coast Regional Operations Manager Randall Gawne providing coordination support. Commissioner Stacey Tannos presented Commissioner’s Commendations for Courage to Chris Condon and Bill Richardson and Commissioner’s Citations to the remaining eight volunteers. Unit Commander Davies said the unit had been thrilled to be recognised in the awards. “They reflect the quality of the continuous training we undertake,” he said. The three men on board the Aussie Joy sustained a number of serious injuries, including broken bones, severe lacerations, punctured lungs and a spinal injury, when their 10 metre cruiser struck a submerged object offshore in the early hours of April 14, 2019. None had been wearing a lifejacket. The MR Port Macquarie radio base received a Mayday call from the cruiser at 1.07am but the location given by the caller - later found to have a broken jaw - was difficult to determine. The crew of PM 30 spent nearly an hour searching until the fishermen were able to deploy their EPIRB and the crew
located the damaged cruiser with the aid of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter, just south of Crescent Head. When PM 30 arrived on scene, Leading Crew members Bill Richardson and Chris Condon bravely boarded the holed vessel to provide emergency first aid to the three men. As the cruiser began sinking, the pair ensured all three escaped, painstakingly extricating a patient with a spinal injury from below deck, where he had been trapped among debris, by using the rising water in the cabin to float him out into the sea. All five men were then swiftly retrieved by the crew of PM 30 and transported to shore, rendezvousing en route with PM 20 with a medical crew on board. At the 2019 MRNSW Leadership Conference, Chair Jim Glissan said the team represented the best of marine rescue worldwide. “But for the prompt, professional and courageous acts of the crew, all those men would have drowned,” he said. “It shows that courage, enhanced by training and supported by a dedicated team, leads to an extraordinary outcome.”
MARINE RESCUE NSW | ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020
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