Thursday, March 27, 2008

'Mayday' calls, nighttime heroics -- Health and Safety at Work, Alaska -- chicagotribune.com

'Mayday' calls, nighttime heroics -- Health and Safety at Work, Alaska -- chicagotribune.com: "The Alaska Ranger radioed its distress call at 2:52 a.m.: 'Mayday, Mayday, Mayday.'

'We are flooding — taking on water in our rudder room,' the man said as he relayed the 203-foot fishing trawler's location in the Bering Sea.

The Ranger was sinking early Sunday, and at 120 miles west of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, the ship and its crew of 47 were in a frigid, nautical nightmare — headed toward catastrophe.

It would take the nearest U.S. Coast Guard helicopter nearly 2 1/2 hours to reach the scene, and when it did, the copter's crew saw lights flickering in the darkened seas."

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