On 11 February 2020, the French Mission Control Center relayed a distress alert transmitted by a maritime 406 MHz EPIRB to the MRCC Gris-Nez.
After investigation, it turned out to belong to a French yachtsman alone on board his Dufour 45 sailboat.
At 140 nautical miles north of Barranquilla (Colombia), the sailor was facing bad weather conditions with a ship not maneuvering due to rudder damage.
MRCC Griz-Nez made a satellite call to all nearby vessels and transferred the alert to the MRCC Colombia.
After six hours of rallying, a container ship answering the call arrived on scene at the same time as a maritime patrol plane dispatched by the MRCC Colombia.
The sailor in distress was thus rescued safe and sound on board the container ship routing to Panama.
