Alaska News

Alaskans rescued from sinking pleasure boat

Five Anchorage residents have been rescued from a 60-foot pleasure craft, a luxury charter yacht, the Nordic Mistress, north of Kodiak Island.

The U.S. Coast Guard reports that staff at the Anchorage command office received a distress call from the Mistress Sunday morning. The Mistress was sinking and those aboard were about to jump ship, a press statement released Sunday afternoon said.

Just before noon, a Kodiak-based MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter was sent out, manned by a HC-130 Hercules air tanker crew. The chopper's destination: 85 miles north of Kodiak, where the Mistress was going down, according to the Coast Guard.

The rescuers arrived about a half hour later to find the Mistress "partially submerged, and all five survivors in survival suits in a life raft surrounded by debris in the water."

All five were plucked from the life raft, adrift in six-foot seas and 15 mph winds, and flown to Kodiak, said the Coast Guard press release.

So far, no leaking fuel from the ship had been reported.

Said Steven Garcia, search and rescue controller at the Anchorage command: "The ability of the persons aboard being able to put on survival suites and enter a life raft could have been the difference between life and death in this situation. By using the on board VHF marine radio to call for help and by properly using their safety gear, the five people took the necessary steps to ensure their safety and to help the Coast Guard quickly come to their rescue."

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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