Sad news from a tough SAR region:
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/nation...ter041209.html
6 missing as helicopter crashes during freighter rescue
Last Updated Thu, 09 Dec 2004 09:00:04 EST
ANCHORAGE - Six people are missing after a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter plunged into the Bering Sea Wednesday while trying to evacuate crew members from a disabled bulk freighter.
A coast guard cutter rescued four other people after the helicopter crashed, and took them to a nearby Alaskan island for medical treatment.
The freighter Selendang Ayu, carrying more than 1.6 million litres of heavy bunker oil as well as a load of soybeans, broke in two Wednesday after running aground on Unalaska Island.
It had been drifting without power on the Bering Sea since Tuesday.
Heavy sea swells and high winds hampered its attempts to drop anchor, and later contributed to the crash of the HH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter.
A U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson said the helicopter's four-person crew had evacuated 18 of the 26-member crew when the aircraft went down.
Two crew members remained on the freighter, but the other six went down with the helicopter.
It is not known whether the four people who were rescued were coast guard crew, members of the freighter's mostly Malaysian crew, or a combination of the two.
The search continues for the missing six people, though at this time of year it would be unusual for them to survive more than three hours in such cold seas.
Environment officials are also worried about the prospect of fuel spilling from the freighter and sullying the sea around the island, which is home to sensitive sea lion, fish and crab populations.
Written by CBC News Online staff