Capsized Man Phones for Help 3,500 Miles Away

Reuters ^ | Sep 11 2001

[2Trievers]

Monday September 10 7:57 AM ET Capsized Man Phones for Help 3,500 Miles Away

Capsized Man Phones for Help 3,500 Miles Away

LONDON (Reuters) - A British kayaker who capsized in heavy seas off southern England used his cellphone to raise the alarm -- by calling his father 3,500 miles (5,600 km) away in Dubai, a Coastguard spokesman said on Monday.

Mark Ashton-Smith, a lecturer at Cambridge University, told rescuers he knew he was in serious trouble as he clung to his upturned kayak in treacherous seas off the Isle of Wight but did not think to call nearby emergency services, the spokesman said.

``I spent several minutes racking my brains to think of someone who could help and could only come up with my sister and my dad,'' Ashton-Smith, 33, told the Times newspaper.

His father Alan Pimm-Smith, who was instructing army troops in Dubai, was shocked to get the call from his son and raised the alarm with the British coastguard -- based less than a mile away from where his son was in the water, the paper reported.

A rescue helicopter was dispatched and plucked Ashton-Smith from the sea 12 minutes after the coastguard was alerted, a spokesman said.

``Obviously we would recommend that people dial 999 when they get into difficulties,'' the spokesman said. ``But people often become panicked or confused and can't think straight.''

It is not the first time people in trouble on the seas have made long-distance calls on the cellphone to raise the alarm.

In February a British woman sent an SOS text message to her boyfriend in England after becoming stranded at sea on a boat off the coast of Indonesia.

[2Trievers]

"A rescue helicopter was dispatched and plucked Ashton-Smith from the sea 12 minutes after the coastguard was alerted

Pretty good response time, I'd say. Would my local police respond that quickly to my 911?

[tom h]

Naaaaah. Your local emergency services would be doing far more meritorious work such as (select one): (a) Responding to calls by minority women with "KKK" emblazoned on their chest by Klan members; (b) Responding to calls to airlift gang members wounded in a shootout to the hospital across town; (c) Responding to calls from illegal Mexican women who are about to deliver a baby and don't have time to take the bus.

I think, my friend, that you would have to swim to shore on your own.

[jjbrouwer]

Surprise he wasn't drowned out when he made the call.