Incidents · distress

Distress signal received in vicinity 15-33.7S 167-15.8E

Coral Sea · HYDROPAC 511/20

What this record establishes

Archived notice · 2020-02-28 13:56Z

This notice comes from the historical archive. Its archived status does not establish when or how the reported situation ended.

Source and dates
NGA MSI broadcast-warn JSON (archive, frozen 2024-05) · MRCC NOUMEA 130004Z FEB 20.. Issued 2020-02-13 00:25Z. First collected 2026-08-17 13:38Z; last seen in collection 2026-08-17 15:46Z. Collection dates record ingestion, not a new incident or a fresh field observation.
Location covered
Coral Sea. The parsed report position is -15.562, 167.263. It is a position in the source message, not a live location. Check the original wording for limits and qualifications.

Current notices and reporting history in the Coral Sea →

issued
2020-02-13 00:25Z
status
Archived notice
authority
MRCC NOUMEA 130004Z FEB 20.
issued by
MRCC NOUMEA
sea
Coral Sea
position
-15.562, 167.263
source
NGA MSI broadcast-warn JSON (archive, frozen 2024-05) · first seen 2026-08-17 13:38Z

Original warning text

CORAL SEA.
VANUATU.
DNC 06.
DISTRESS SIGNAL RECEIVED IN VICINITY
15-33.7S 167-15.8E.
VESSELS IN VICINITY REQUESTED TO KEEP A SHARP
LOOKOUT, ASSIST IF POSSIBLE.
REPORTS TO MRCC NOUMEA,
INMARSAT-C: 422799194,
PHONE: 687 292 332, 687 264 772,
FAX: 687 292 303,
E-MAIL: OPERATONS@MRCC.NC.

Reading this warning

DNC (Digital Nautical Chart)
A reference to one of the regions of NGA's Digital Nautical Chart, used to tell the reader which charts a warning affects.
Distress signal received
A rescue centre has received an alert — from a beacon, a radio call or a satellite terminal — and is asking ships to look.
Position (degrees and minutes)
How warnings write positions: degrees, a hyphen, then minutes, with N/S and E/W — 49-40.8N 003-43.8W.
Keep a sharp lookout
A request to every ship in the area to watch for the vessel, people or object described.
Assist if possible
The second half of the standard rescue request: ships able to help are asked to do so.
MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre)
A rescue coordination centre for maritime cases only, such as MRCC Fort-de-France or MRCC Vietnam.
Inmarsat-C / SafetyNET
The satellite system that carries NAVAREA warnings to ships at sea, and the terminal number rescue centres give for reports.

All warning terms →

Collected reports in this area · distress & casualty cases (archived)

34 within 180 nm since 2001 · 0 in the last 12 months · 0 listed in force now

01
05
10
15
20
24

Counts include repeat notices about the same situation. NGA archive coverage ends 2024-05; live collection began 2026-08-17. The period between them is incomplete. An empty year is not evidence that no hazards occurred.

Month of issue in the collected archive

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D

All available years combined. Uneven collection and repeat bulletins affect these counts; this chart does not measure the seasonality or probability of incidents.

Nearby notices listed in force · within 120 nm

No other collected notice is currently listed in force within this radius. This does not establish safe conditions.

Worldwide in the collected sources

0 distress & casualty cases (archived) listed in force · see all

Record snapshot 2026-10-02 02:27Z; source collection times vary.

Incidents

Search-and-rescue broadcasts, published only once a case has been closed for 30 days: groundings, sinkings, capsizes, fires, man overboard, overdue vessels. Nothing here is live. All current distress & casualty cases (archived) →

Not for navigation. This is a re-rendering of an official navigational warning for awareness; mariners must use official NAVAREA broadcasts and their national MSI service.