Asia-Pacific
Kadena P-3 Orion, Coast Guard C-130 join search for missing man
Stars and Stripes
September 3, 2014
The cross in the center of this diagram depicts the search area for a 34-year-old crewmember of the Japanese fishing vessel Wakaba Maru 7 who was reported overboard about 170 miles southwest of Chuuk Island on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2014. (U.S. Coast Guard photo illustration)
Aircraft from Kadena Air Base in Japan and the U.S. Coast Guard in Hawaii have been called in to search for a man thought to have fallen overboard from a Japanese fishing ship southwest of Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia.
The Yokohama Rescue Coordination Center notified U.S. Coast Guard Sector Guam on Tuesday that the 34-year-old man had been last seen on the Wakaba Maru 7 just past midnight Monday, according to a news statement from the Guam Coast Guard.
The man is a citizen of Micronesia. It was unknown whether he was wearing a life preserver.
Other fishing vessels and a support helicopter conducted searches immediately after he was discovered missing.
The Guam Coast Guard is now coordinating the search, currently being conducted by a U.S. Navy P-3 Orion aircraft from Kadena and two sister fishing vessels.
A Coast Guard C-130 plane traveling from U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point in Hawaii is expected to arrive at the search area Wednesday, 4:30 p.m. local time, after flying about 3,600 miles.
Micronesia is located about 500 miles southeast of Guam.
The sea is relatively calm in the search area, with 10 mph winds and 5-foot waves.