Two cellphone 911 calls aided the US Coast Guard’s rescue of four people from a 45-foot sloop off Block Island Friday night. Although the crew did not have sufficient reception to communicate with dispatchers, rescuers used the phone numbers to track down other family members on shore.
From the Providence Journal:
The voice of the caller, using a cell phone, sounded broken up. All anyone at the Police Department understood was “Coast Guard,” according to a police report.
The call may have been garbled, but as far as Linda Freedman was concerned, it was the stroke of luck that helped pinpoint the location of her son’s sailboat. When the police did not get an answer back on the cell phone, the department traced the number back to Linda Freedman. She told the police that her son and his father were on a boat.
