Okay. As someone who is currently active in search and Rescue on a regular basis, I feel compelled to say a couple of things. Not having heard the actual tapes, and not being familiar with that part of the country, my comments will be few.
First, I agree that the OnStar operator could have been more emphatic about the significance of the coordinates. I differ with others in that I find GPS coordinates to be tremendously accurate and very helpful even when used for "last sighted" information. He/She also could have given a detailed description of the vehicle make, model, color. license plate number, drivers name, etc. That might have prevented the ranger's possible assumtion that finding "anybody that needed help" or "a couple... stuck in the sand" had disposed of the issue.
Clearly, the rangers didn't realize the seriousness of an OnStar distress call. So probably, there is a gap in their education.
Moreover, most agencies employ an ICS or Incident Command System, whereby no single individual calls off a search without input from a site commander and many other involved parties and agencies. If this system had been used, there probably would have been FLIR equipped helicopters looking for these two in very short order. It is impossible for me to say if this would have been life-saving.
I don't think there is any one person or agency upon whom we can place all the blame. But God knows, I would want things to run a lot more smoothly if I had a loved one out there in distress.
Echoing what others wrote, let's all keep it safe.
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