SAFEGUARD

General information

Course/Position

Latest news

US-Navy sends diving/recovery vessel to site of sunken South Korean ferry Sewol

A Navy diving and recovery vessel is heading to South Korea’s southwest coast and could take part in the recovery of a ferry that sank a week ago. The departure of a Navy amphibious assault ship and aircraft from the disaster site and the pending arrival of the USNS Safeguard highlight the transition from a rescue to recovery effort in what is shaping up to be one of South Korea’s worst peacetime disasters. Of the Sewol’s 476 passengers, only 174 survivors have been found. As of noon Wednesday, 150 bodies – many of them high school students on a school trip to Jeju Island -- had been pulled from the ferry. Divers have been going through compartments where a number of people are believed to have sought refuge before the ferry sank, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News.

Safeguard to search for missing plane

USS "Safeguard" has been diverted from Mindanao to Manila to conduct search and salvage operations in the mouth of Manila Bay for a missing Philippine Air Force (PAF) trainer plane. The vessel was one of the US vessels scheduled to participate in this year’s joint Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) 2012 in Mindanao Sea for nine days starting on July 2, 2012. The "Safeguard" will conduct the actual salvage operations within Manila Bay area for the PAF missing plane that plunged with its two pilots into the mouth of Manila Bay while on a routine proficiency training flight several weeks an hour after taking off from the Sangley Point Naval Base in Cavite City. To date, combined efforts of the Air Force and Navy search teams to locate the ill—fated trainer plane, as well as its missing, pilot and co-pilot, had yielded negative results. Underwater robots used to sweep the seabed of Manila Bay have failed to locate the missing plane, which fishermen saw plumeting into the sea near an island in Mariveles, Bataan. On board the "Deepwater", which was equipped with high underwater detection capabilities, were 25 US navy divers and 70 highly-trained personnel in rescue and salvage operations.