The operation required pilots to hover an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter about 50 feet above the stricken vessel while contending with downdrafts off a nearby cliff and winds approaching 60 mph — conditions that had already driven the ship’s crew from the enclosed bridge to the deck before rescuers arrived.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued all nine crew members of a commercial crab boat Monday after the vessel lost steering in near-gale conditions and went aground on a remote Bering Sea island, the Coast Guard said. No injuries were reported.
The Arctic Sea, a 134-foot fishing vessel owned by the Coastal Villages Region Fund and fishing for tanner crab, grounded about 4 a.m. on the northern shore of Saint George Island — the southernmost of Alaska’s small Pribilof Islands, roughly 750 miles west of Anchorage — as winds reached nearly 60 mph and seas ran 10 feet. The island is home to fewer than 100 residents, predominantly Aleuts.
“I’m on the fog, I’m on the beach, we lost our steering,” someone aboard the Arctic Sea radioed to the Coast Guard in a mayday call, according to audio provided by the agency. “We’re taking on water.”
The ship came to rest near a cliff face that rose hundreds of feet above the water. The Coast Guard dispatched an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter along with an airplane and rerouted its vessel, the Alex Haley, to the scene.
The helicopter arrived at approximately 11:30 a.m. and pilots Lt. Cmdr. Conor Regan and Lt. Cmdr. Josh Womboldt positioned the aircraft about 50 feet above the grounded ship to begin hoisting operations.
“Due to how strong the winds were, we made sure to consider downdrafts coming off the cliffs and severe turbulence when hoisting the crewmembers from the Arctic Sea,” Regan said in an email to the Associated Press.
All nine crew members and the rescue swimmer were brought up in roughly 25 minutes. “The aircrew also conducted the hoists of all nine crewmembers and the rescue swimmer in about 25 minutes, a testament to the skill and professionalism of the aircrew,” Regan said.
Before rescuers arrived, conditions aboard the Arctic Sea had deteriorated sharply. The vessel’s fire suppression system activated, driving the crew from the enclosed bridge to the open deck. Crew members donned survival suits about 8 a.m. and activated an emergency radio beacon, according to Eric Deakin, CEO of the Coastal Villages Region Fund.
A second Coastal Villages vessel, the North Sea, was in the vicinity but could not assist because of the weather and the shallow water where the Arctic Sea had run aground. The North Sea maintained a communications link with the Coast Guard throughout the rescue operation.
The rescued crew members were flown to Saint Paul Island, about 45 miles to the northwest, because Saint George Island lacked both emergency medical services and a way for the helicopter to refuel there.
A private company has been contracted to oversee salvage of the Arctic Sea, the Coast Guard said.