Mayday Ship Sinking! | Coast Guard Alaska | Full Episode

On January 24, the cold Alaskan winter air is pierced by an all-too-familiar sound. They were drinking water, they didn't know if they could stay afloat and it sounded pretty serious. The events of the next 14 hours will push the entire crew. of Kodiak Air Station to its limits. To be honest, I have never been so terrified. He made us rock in our seats. The vast wilderness of Alaska, a place where beauty is shrouded in danger. Here every day, 350 highly trained men and women risk their lives. To save others America's deadliest waters are protected by the Alaska Coast Guard Approximately an hour stopover from an eight-foot D 1750 fishing boat with four adult males on board The boat's location is across the Strait of Shelikof and Portage Bay is about 113 miles west-southwest of Kodiak and that's all the information we have, we don't know if they're

sinking

, we don't know if they're some kind of medical needs, so right now we're speculating which is the problem on the boat.

A 58-foot vessel possibly stranded in distress for the adult men on board has just been updated. The captain communicated with his wife through a sad telephone. She contacted the Coast Guard and they are requesting assistance. The plan is that she is about a hundred and fifty miles from here. to try to get to the top of the island, go straight, anyone who has any questions, okay, as soon as they fill the plane, let's go and the captain of the best, who was talking to his wife on the satellite phone, cut off and them. We couldn't get any contact, that was the last communication we had with the

ship

and the sector has been trying to help the fishing boat Kimberly with no luck, so we want to waste the time we started working to get on the plane.

We knew that there are four people. on board and they were stranded, our main concern was making sure that what arrived on time was in Alaska, it was always removed and if they had gotten into the water for some reason, their survival rate decreases significantly. The thing about Alaska What makes it so difficult is that most of the time we don't even know exactly what the weather is that they fly in, we are always making a conscious decision to evaluate the risk we are taking against the game we could have and We are willing to take many risks for the possibility of saving human lives.

We programmed into the flight director a straight-line route to the last known position of the distressed vessel, and as we got closer and closer, we noticed that the weather was bad. deteriorating rapidly over a straight line platform, the wind picked up because it was 50 knots and then we saw sustained winds of 60 to 70 knots. At that time we were able to establish radio communications with the captain of the boat we were talking to and fixed his position at At that time I was in a cove that was at the base of two quite large mountains and sometimes we saw up to 100 knots of wind coming in, which is roughly equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane and we decided we were going to try Drop a trail line towards it and then use it to guide a rescue device to the boat.

We fell to about 3,000 feet, but we began to detect updrafts coming from the mountains and at one point they took all our energy away. On the plane we were still climbing at a thousand feet per minute, so we physically can't descend. To be honest, I have never been so terrified. It made us rock in our seats. The wind was so strong it just pushed us around. Basically, it took us two hours to travel 5 miles and a small cook that on a clear day would have taken just a few seconds to travel. The winds have never been this strong on any flight I have been on and what made it worse was It was dark so it was difficult after almost 2 hours we finally made it to the top of the

ship

.

I put 20 pound weight on the end of the trail line, as soon as it came out the door it backed up right behind the plane. I had never seen him do anything like that, the force of the wind was incredible, it was 20 pounds on the trail line, it felt like a hundred pounds to the one who just wanted to take it off, it was a pretty dangerous situation if the trail The light that came out of the door came into contact with the tail rotor, which can be a catastrophic event for the water and causes that designer to design the water one at a time.

Think about that pencil J. I can't believe something we came up with with a

coast

guard

helicopter possibly delivering the rescue. Swimmer directly on the cable, since it had weight on it, we could free it. Hope

full

y we'll try to throw it down. Keep in mind that during this whole evolution the wind is blowing and it must be around negative 30 degrees with the wind chill, my face was completely frozen. Our hands are getting pretty numb, we were about 50 feet from the boat and the helicopter was being thrown violently up and down, back and forth, my God, it's a toll, guys, right now, it's not comfortable.

I hit the water, we made it, bingo, fuel. for us so we are going to have to return to the base you lost your generator you had no other source when the Coast Guard appears on the scene many people think that we were rescued and in those conditions we know it That is not the case, there is much more to do do and when we had to leave the scene I realized what a psychological blow it can be for the people who count on us to rescue them. It is extremely difficult to tell the captain that we were not going to be able to make a voice that night.

You know, as a crew we wanted nothing more than to get those guys off the ship and bring them home safely, but we couldn't do it and happily the

coast

guard

helicopter arrived. from the air station, oh, there was a ship stranded on the south side of the Alaska Peninsula, about 110 miles from Kodiak Air Station, there were four people on board. All the mail looked like there were no injuries, but they were quite scared and you leave the the the ship can capsize the captain's you have a life raft buy this one of the best it was very difficult to get away from the ship because we knew they were still in a lot of distress but just we didn't have enough fuel and we didn't have the ability to get them off that ship at that time on the way back, the crew is exhausting, but what we did was start to focus not only on what we had done, but also on evaluating what information we could provide to the command. and for the next team that had to go out, that might help them have a better chance of being successful based on what we learned in the couple of hours we toured in those conditions.

I'll say feet, I feel beat up and discouraged. about that thing I had, I was about to throw James out the door, man, yeah, you look at some cases, all the little ones shook for sure every night terrified, that was bad, it was a punch in the teeth, you see, You do not want to see. go out, you know you're going out and there's bad weather, which you don't expect to happen, you have to take an hour to go five miles, just pushing me back and you see the guys in the boat, they need to help. you can't understand it, it's really discouraging, I feel comfortable seeing them finished, go ahead and take off your vest, talk a little about this reader, what was alarming to me was my first reaction when I robbed the team that had been there when I saw their eyes, they looked beat up, in the worst condition they have ever been in and when you look at two experienced drivers like Audie Andrey and Jake Smith, when the top of the top tells you that things are bad out there, it's hard to send another crew to that situation, it's just covered in ice, significant winds, I mean I'm the north coast, how did you see the turbulence of the bay?

Stay here, yeah, it's a mountain on each side and then a higher one, like right up to the stern of the ship. a couple hundred meters is like a rocky coast, but we talked about everything, we ran out of gas and out of ideas, you know, we kept trying until we got to our bingo, fuel, they had dry suits, they had a generator with lights, no We thought it was safe to get him off the boat, we were looking at 80 to 90 mile per hour winds, which is difficult in any situation, let alone at night, 100 feet out of the water, and to have this are two phenomenal pilots coming back. and telling me it's really bad out there made me reconsider a lot, do you know what the profit is on this flight?

If we're going to put our crew at too much risk, it doesn't look like we can do the lift where we are. The guy's not scared, yeah, they sounded like they knew the situation was they wanted to get off that boat, we wanted to get him off that boat, there wasn't that, that's what had to happen every time you walk in and see the skipper there At two o'clock. The morning clock not only do you know what's tough, but you know the boss has your back and the crews appreciate that you're there just to stay, just you wait, the days things move on, you're above 3,000 feet, you could orbit there. and you use the OK, the operations, why don't we do this while orbiting over it?

Maybe the winds will die down. You can go ahead and pick them up sir, maybe it will take off. Okay, our crews try to be as prepared as possible, but. You never really know everything, it was important for me to let them know exactly what I expected from them, that and that, I need you in the scene, I need you to be there in case things get worse, but don't push too hard. I'm already bleeding, is it good for you to start running now? I feel comfortable, a little scared, but I'm going to do this because you know these people are counting on us.

It makes you evaluate what you're getting into as a driver. Not only is it my duty for the grant to help save these people, but it is also my responsibility as a pilot to make sure my crew stays safe and that we can return home. It was freezing, I battled negative 20 degrees Celsius and a 60 knot crosswind blowing snow. those conditions are something you read about and something you don't fly well in at 20:30 d-17 offers a 50 foot fishing boat stranded one hundred and thirteen miles south-southwest of here for POV they have survival suits so we get out They find the ship and are able to get to it because of the winds, they said it was really very sporty, once we launched the second plane, we would make the decision that we will basically maintain coverage with a sixty on the scene, so as soon as the second team went out there we called another team to participate and talk about the situation in the conditions of the place air speed indicator around 95 knots trying to hoist there was no chance we went down the trail line with the ton of wave bags on top simply It flew right into the tail so it's really serious, we're not out there right now trying to lift them or orbit them in case they come off because we're worried that as soon as they hit the water they'll be gone. and we'll never see them again so we want to be in a position to attack pretty quickly so we're trying to maintain one hundred percent coverage and literally when those guys leave you're there it's unpleasant for the flight crews . that came back, you saw it in their faces when they saw that real thing, be careful, yes, we were really counting on that third team to be the team to lift these people up.

We knew the second team was there just to be ready in case things went well. worse, but we were counting on the third crew to be the one to get them out of there, we had already launched two helicopters there, they couldn't get the individuals off the boat due to the winds of over 90 knots, we have a lot of severe weather in Alaska, but a mass over 92 is something I've never actually heard of. He knew it was going to be a turbulent area and now I've flown through some strong turbulence before, but those conditions are something you read about and something you don't.

I fly because I put the other 60 outside, they're three hours old and they're basically hanging out in the sky. I would like to have

full

coverage when the sun comes up if these guys are not on the boat, yes we are on daylight hours. Any time you send another team into a position in a situation where a previous team was successful, there are a lot of things I worry about, number one being whether they will feel additional pressure to get the job done. I really didn't. I want our crews to push too hard and God forbid the helicopter crashes, honey, what I'm hearing about guys getting sick and stuff, it's probably a good thing we go into it ready to start believing, crews, this is what We discover what is happening and we take off.

At that point we had called all the H-60 ​​pilots and crew members because we knew this was going to be an all-hands-on-deck evolution. We grabbed a couple of pilots who were scheduled to leave the island on leave, called the Mints and Sorry, you'll have to take your vacation another time, we need you now we were launching planes during planning and then we heard the second call May Day for a second SAR Z case, okay, we currently have a 60 in theplace. It was the fishing investor Kimberly, but we just received another distress call from another fishing boat, the fishing boat's estate, we just launched another helicopter to the fishing boat Kimberly.

As soon as they took off, we got a pretty bad distress call that came in with a fishing boat. Heritage said they were taking on water, they didn't know if they could stay afloat and it sounded pretty serious. The water coming down from the well really stretched in the first case, but when the second case appeared, we really started to fight, we reached the halfway point. to the scene and we began to hear the Heritage fishing boat saying that they were taking on water, the engine room was flooded, they were listing 20 degrees and practically dead in the water.

We had already launched on the fishing boat Kimberly, which was grounded in the southwest corner of the Shelikof Strait and about 20 minutes into the flight we heard a second aid call and realized that this second case was only about 50 miles from where We started arguing. They, you know what's really the most important case at this point, you know we have guys that landed and we have guys that were probably going into the water, so we made the low that 90 degree turn to the left and we headed towards the Heritage we start descending through the clouds and as we start to get closer to the boat, I see these flashing lights in the water.

At first we thought the flashlights might be buoys, we quickly realized they were actually strobe lights from people in the water, turns out they were fishing. The boat had completely sunk within 25 minutes and we had two people in the water and a life raft. Five people inside. We immediately knew we had to get people out of the water first. To the people in the life raft, even though it was cold, we were at the end. much longer than people in water, i.e. 32 degrees or less in 32 degree water; Even with a survival suit, survivability is quite limited in calm waters, these people were in 25 foot waves with waves crashing over their heads, in fact we saw both survivors fall into the crashing waves while we were doing our checklist of recipes the head was a complete party / director Take - the rescue swimmer Carter take cover someone has come out through the door below check that we came up with the direct deployment of the rescue swimmer so that he is not going to come off the elevator, he will just go down, will place a rescue strap around the survivor and then they will be loaded back onto the plane.

It is generally the quickest way to get someone out of the water. I was lowered with direct deployment immediately after entering the water my hands immediately start moving my heart starts to race a little I know this is a serious situation for them I swam to a first survivor and tried to put the quick strap around his head like I said my hands were numb my glasses or where I stopped but once I checked I had everything right and the games were ready for break 5 there was one survivor out of the water one survivor was climbing Beauty down as the voice continued on my gloves, my face was saturated the rescue swimmer's gloves and his Praxis mask were saturated and frozen when I reached out to grab the survivor I could no longer feel my hand and I couldn't feel where the button was on the switch that was on my hand, so after I put it in the cabin and put it in a corner and started warming it up.

Then I tried to warm up my own hand because I couldn't feel it enough for the next lifting evolution to be safe, it was probably only a minute but it felt like the world, it felt like ten minutes I was trying to warm up my hand long enough to be able to make the next toy safely, the hard part was looking out the door and seeing the man I want to save. and couldn't because my hand was too cold to do it, but I beat my voice out. I was able to warm my hand and we went back there for the next guy and tortured butter serratus at two o'clock, you can.

Pick it up guys, you have the target site. Loading verifications. Full silver is going down. Roger, we bring the same procedure with direct deployment. I swam there immediately. I noticed he was in a more severe state of hypothermia. His arms were pressed close to his chest. His eyes were a little glassy, ​​so again I tried to work as quickly as I could. I put the squatter on them, gave them some waves and we got drunk in the cabin, I took it to the back of the cabin and then called the full hoist and stuff. The two survivors in the cabin placed it under the troop seat and began to warm it up as best we could and at this point we discovered that there was another fishing boat arriving on the scene.

Well, we got that big decoder helicopter to go ahead when he finished the second voice of him, the fishing boat was only 400 yards from where the life raft was. I was surprised how quickly they were able to pick up the five survivors, they're like man, they already got those guys, so we called him on the radio Mike, yeah, we had five people on board and we knew everyone was safe. The count of four is a real relief. We headed back to Kodiak and taxied once we got off the plane. We took the survivors to medical assistance with the woman We were on scene it really makes me feel good to come back and know that everyone will return home safely tonight, including my team, are you feeling warm?

How your fingers and toes don't feel so bad. Yes, my name is Jonathan Cutrone and I'm a The angler on the Heritage boat got so cold that they couldn't control the pendant anymore and I had to do something because I couldn't get the swimmer down and up, so I probably just waited about thirty seconds longer, but like a lot longer I just sat there trying to heat it up, there was nothing I could do, but yeah, I guess as fast as we could, you know we started drinking water, the generator went out, all the lights went out and then it went out. turned off the steering. it sank we knew we were toast we were listening very badly at that moment it was

sinking

so we all jumped I grabbed my wallet I was thinking about grabbing my computer when I was in the water I realized that thing wasn't very important and finally they called from the boat there were five people on the raft and five people didn't get any, that was a big weight off our shoulders, yeah, that was actually my first choice, my first operational lift, okay, yeah, that's my first ladder.

So that was a lot of fun, you know a good one, yeah, 60 79 winds and 30 foot seas, yeah, that was pretty good, we were getting the life raft ready and that was the last guy Sara and I barely made it We got out at the last second. and when I stuck my head out into the water, I could see where there was no rigging on top of the rigging and strobe lights everywhere and I couldn't tell which was a raft and which. Did you know that there are empty suits and what do you have? So I just threw my head back and tried to stay calm.

You know, just getting a wave in my mouth. You know, salt water in my mouth and just trying to breathe and calm my heartbeat. thoughts you know enjoy the last remaining moments of my life potential life weird no water for about 20 or 22 5 minutes I saw the life raft but it was too far away to reach it I had my strobe light on I held it in the air and just waited for for the Coast Guard to come, finally that sodium light came over me and I was getting pretty cold. He was starting to shake uncontrollably like he knew hyperthermia was coming soon, but he was hanging out with the Coast Guard, son.

I know someone, you came in and gave me smiles like that, it's great, yeah, it's nice to meet her, you see what could have been in better conditions than I've ever seen. We were very lucky with the Coast Guard, but no, it's another lifesaver, yes. When you're floating on the water and you see the helicopter, it's a great feeling. At some point during your journey here, you will be pushed to the limit, beyond and tonight is one of those nights when we are all a little nervous. You could look into everyone's eyes, you could say, okay, this is it, this is a game, we're going to operate, everyone else loves it in those winds and conditions that the third team that was going to the scene was diverted, we closed that case, so when we got one on the Kimberley, once we were sure we had all seven crew members of the Heritage fishing boat safe, we launched wish relief on that case and went back to our original problem.

We still had four people in a very desperate situation there on the fishing boat. Ship Kimberly, just a few thoughts from my perspective, but you've all heard me say that there are a couple of times, at some point during your journey here, that will push you to the limit and beyond, and tonight is one of those nights where which the case really gets complicated. It's difficult and the challenges are really intense and difficult, you really have to be prepared and one couple who went on a cruise tonight found out what it's like to be pushed to the limit and have to turn back without success, but they made the right decision, they made the right decisions So we're still in the game and still doing great work, but you have to be ready to go at a moment's notice.

If no one submits other questions like this, we'll consider it well, let's get to work. It was actually pretty funny because I was sleeping pretty well and the audio called to me. He says: Hi Jim, we need you to come in for a secondary case. I was still quite nervous and simply responded. Why do you call me? I don't have any duties. He says: Hey, I know. I need a lot of equipment right now, come in and jump into Kim's work, how are you feeling? Oh, okay, okay, now leave the team, rest at least, I mean maybe a 2 for me or whatever you're thinking.

I like it there. come on Oh fear sir yes we are going to Portage Bay early yes Miss Jenson had just come back from the case he was the second one off and yes it was nice I was shocked but it was one of the most challenging environments in which He has never flown and he told me exactly what he saw, where he found it, so here's the deal: we saw maximum winds of 90 to 90 knots, but it's very gusty and then all these types of coves here are full of sea ice and it's really faint. Fog that's just being blown in, you know, it's half sea foam and half fog.

I was able to talk to Jim and Jess together. I told them the conditions at the scene, no joke, turbulence, no joke, ice. The conditions here are really good, but I'm seeing their pre-betrayal. Of course, we wanted to get out as quickly as possible, but you know the weather was so demanding that, even so, we're all a little nervous, you could look good in everyone's eyes, it showed, okay, this is it, this is the best game. let's go when we take off I'm still in the night Tom, it's still dark, the most important thing for my team in particular was that we knew we would arrive on the scene with a few hours of daylight, which is a huge benefit and by being able to complete it successfully, we went up . at 5,000 feet and we only had 10 knots of wind and we are almost disappointed that we went well, this is not so bad, but I realize that it is only because we have not really closed the gap at the 115 mile range and about the halfway there We started to detect winds of 30 knots, 40 knots, suddenly 50 knots, 60 knots came and once we got below 2000 feet or so, it became a little more stable even turbulent, but you know, light to moderate, at best, the surprising thing was that we returned to life. raft from quite a distance and we couldn't see the boat, that's how well it blended into the bottom because it was completely covered in ice.

We noticed as we approached, there was an individual standing outside the raft we started on. Looking for places to get off so we could establish communications and see what we could do from there, we got into position about 100 feet directly above the ship and thought we could make a safe deployment on the frozen sea ice, which was the first thing I did. I'm thinking about making sure I'm okay, sending the lift hook again and assessing the situation. When I initially approached him, I discovered that he was the captain of the ship and that he was severely hypothermic at the time.

He informed me that there was one member on the raft who was incapacitated and unable to get off the raft and that there were two on the boat. The next thing I did was go up and I checked with the two guys that were there and made sure they were okay. To go I asked one of them to help me with the older man on the descent who is just going down. The man who stayed on the raft when I approached him let me know that he can move his lower extremities. It was obvious that he was fatigued and I said well walk, get out of there, just wait a minute, I was able to pick up the gentleman, the other individual grabbed him by the feet and then I repositioned him, I grabbed him by his trunk and then I said it in the basket once the basket entered the cabin.

I realized something had to get this guy out of there, yeah, and since he couldn't use his legs and the deck was icy, I knew it was going to be a fight, soI asked him to help me completely. he was able to get it out once the basket reached the cabin. I realize I don't have to get this guy out of there because he couldn't use his legs. I knew it was going to be a struggle, you do it right, Josh, you did it right. At the moment there is a lot of work, once we installed the first driver in the cabin and in the seat, after the fight was over we decided that we are going to continue lifting the basket, the captain of the boat was the next to climb.

His nose looked like the beginning of frostbite, that's a sure sign, he has a lot of hypothermia, a lot of exposure, we started to steal them, we picked him up, we brought him to the cabin door and I started slipping on the ice. What was happening in Navasky's place? Being dragged, he was almost climbing out of the cockpit because the decks were so slippery that he asked us from the front to control the hoist, the e/m safe on bomp bomp bomp and the microfighters were basically lowering the hoist for him because he needed both hands. and in fact you can see how he uses his foot and supports himself so as not to leave the cabin.

Survivor. It's good to have a little narration from the co-pilot when you're ready as we continue with the basket. for two more times, the other two men very, very fast. I couldn't believe how quickly Josh did that and then we came back cheap with a naked hook retrieve everything went well. I entered the cabin. It was covered in ice at the time. I still hadn't regained any kind of dexterity in my hands. I had to ask Josh to open the bags for the blankets. You're ready for a report as just another noncommissioned officer. Big Daddy very well done once my hands returned.

The main thing was to get the boys without wet clothes to give him liquids, it's warm, well, the liquids are not cold AHA. The two older gentlemen's core temperature had dropped a lot, they were all dehydrated, you can say they were in a pretty desperate situation, but these gentlemen were fighters, they did everything they could in their power to prepare and try to be in the conditions. suitable conditions and unfortunately it turned out that we are going feet first, guys, what's going on? Richard Sharpe, crew member on the Kimberley, all I could say, I said if it wasn't for The Coast Guard people debated that we went ashore and started hitting rocks pretty hard on the bottom and after that we were bouncing Pretty solid, it hit us and she rolled a little bit and then we leaned over a pharaoh, I don't look good.

I have nothing but the highest praise for the Coast Guard and I don't know any other name you could call it other than it rolls amazing. Everyone was very relieved when we finally brought him back here. You know we don't want to leave anyone behind. and it obviously worked for the best in this case. It took an entire air station of 350 to really make this happen and that's why we all come here. This is the great game. This is where great recipes are made. Hey thanks. His work was. just an incredible heroic effort. A herculean effort by everyone involved to do everything that needed to be done.

A great job. Thanks, Boris. Impressive, there is tremendous pride in coming up with a knife like that. The team effort aspect of this is always happening. people just see the helicopter on scene they see the c-130 on scene but they don't see it's the network the team of people who are working behind the scenes no flight could happen if it weren't for that teamwork but tonight was an example of how it is really crucial for everyone to work together to fulfill a purpose greater than oneself and better than oneself. That's why you do this job. I think it's a common cold among all Coast Guardsmen.

There is a purpose and a higher calling to try to achieve. helping other people and I think that's what it comes down to trying to solve problems.