crab:
I have no first hand information on the rescue so cannot comment on what happened but I can set your mind at rest and confirm that the Jigsaw aircraft can perform a double strop rescue with the pilot non flying operating the winch whilst the winch operator pulls in the two survivors. However don't let the truth get in the way of having another jab at civie SAR ...
In any case it would have been rather odd for them to perform a double strop rescue in the full knowledge that the survivors cannot be recover into the aircraft???
Woolf