Crew Rescued from Sinking Ship

Official Coast Guard photos by Petty Officer Joseph Zemchak

Rescuers from the U.S. Coast Guard and Alaska Air National Guard saved 23 crew members from an Asian cargo ship taking on water south of the Aleutian Islands, officials said. "People are out of harm's way, they are rescued and they are safe,'' said Alaska National Guard spokesman Maj. Mike Haller late Monday.

All 23 crew members were hoisted into two National Guard Pave Hawk helicopters and a Coast Guard helicopter and taken to Adak Island in the Aleutians. The rescue was conducted in very challenging weather, said Master Sgt. Sal Provenzano with the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center. A nearby merchant marine vessel was standing by to take any crew member who couldn't fit on the three helicopters, but the thought of conducting another 23 hoist operations to lower the crew members on the ship in that weather was deemed not the best choice.

One crew member with a broken ankle was to be flown by an HC130 to Anchorage immediately after landing in Adak, Provenzano said. It was not immediately known how long the other crew members, who all wore survival suits when the ship started taking on water, would remain on Adak Island. A crewmember from the Singapore based container ship Cougar Ace, a car carrier with 23 people on board, contacted the North Pacific Search and Rescue Coordination Center on Sunday. He reported that they were taking on water and listing 80 degrees. The Cougar Ace is located about 230 miles south of the Aleutian Island Chain, in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean.

The Coast Guard cutter Rush, a 378-ft. cutter based out of Hawaii, and a C-130 aircraft and crew from Air Station Kodiak assisted in the rescue effort. The cause of the vessel damage is unknown at this time.

Source: AP