(US COAST GUARD) — The Global Maritime Distress Safety System and a signal from an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon detected by a satellite in low earth orbit above the Pacific Ocean can be given credit for contributing to the rescue of five merchant sailors Saturday night.
At 2 p.m. Saturday, a fire broke out in the engine room of the 93-foot Solomon Islands cargo vessel Haurosi, disabling the ship approximately 60 nautical miles northwest of Saipan. 
A 406 Mega Hertz EPIRB carried by the ship was activated, transmitting a radio distress signal that was detected by a satellite orbiting the earth over 1,200 miles away.  The satellite relayed the distress alert to a ground station on Guam which passed the alert to the U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Sub-Center Guam.
In response to the alert, the U.S. Coast Guard requested assistance from the U.S. Navy Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25 and from the USNS Shasta, a Military Sealift Command ship.  A rescue helicopter from HSC-25 located the disabled ship at 8 p.m. and deployed a rescue swimmer to investigate. 
After confirming that the fire was out and that the crewmen of Haurosi were uninjured, the helicopter departed to rendezvous with the USNS Shasta to be refueled.  Once refueled, the helicopter launched again to re-locate Haurosi and direct the USNS Shasta to the disabled ship’s position.
By 10 p.m., the USNS Shasta had the disabled ship in sight and was preparing to deploy a rescue and assistance team by small boat.  The team rescued the five-man crew, moving them to the safety of the USNS Shasta.  Early yesterday morning, the USNS Shasta took Haurosi in tow en route to Tanapag Harbor in Saipan.