Amazing, and tragic, story. Ship breaks apart, Coast Guard chopper crashes in rescue attempt Search continues for six missing off Unalaska Coast Guard scours rough waters after rescue went wrong From staff and wire reports (Published: December 9, 2004) A U.S. Coast Guard cutter and a tug boat continued searching rolling seas today for six people, missing overnight after a helicopter crashed while trying to rescue them from a grounded Malaysian freighter that broke in two off the rugged west coast of Unalaska Island. The Coast Guard Jayhawk helicopter went down Wednesday evening with 10 people aboard, but a second helicopter plucked four people, including the Coast Guard crew, from the ocean. The same helicopter later rescued the freighter's captain and a Coast Guard rescue swimmer from the bow of the ship. Coast Guard officials said the crew member was treated for a neck injury. No injuries among the Coast Guard personnel were reported. As soon as we have daylight, we'll be launching aircraft," said Chief Petty Officer Roger Wetherell of the Coast Guard. Sunrise in Unalaska occurs about 10:15 a.m. The Coast Guard planned to send out a C-130 airplane and helicopters to the scene, he said. The 738-foot Selendang Ayu broke in half during the gale, almost certainly spilling heavy bunker fuel into the ocean a few thousand feet off the uninhabited coast, part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. Loaded with soybeans, the ship was carrying almost 500,000 gallons of fuel. The Coast Guard and state environmental officials were bracing for a spill of hundreds of thousand of gallons of heavy fuel in an area of the Aleutian Islands that is home to sea lions, northern fur seals, and a variety of birds and sealife. Seas Thursday were still 20 feet and wins were blowing at more than 30 knots. "Those high winds make flying difficult and is going to make for choppy seas," said Chief Petty Officer Roger Wetherell. "If somebody is out there riding a wave, you may not see them." Ben Golodoff, a retired Bering Sea fisherman, was listening to Coast Guard reports on his VHF radio Wednesday evening at his Dutch Harbor home and what he heard what sounded all too familiar from his days at sea. He's no stranger to being thrown around by furious winds in pitch-black nights. "There were winds and snow squalls and freezing spray," said Golodoff, 71. "It can get pretty bad out there. A lot of fishermen I know have had their boats all beat up, windows knocked out. Out there, you've got the cold weather of the Bering Sea to the north and to the south you've got the Pacific - and where they both meet around this area, it can get pretty turbulent." The carrier’s oil had been transferred to inboard tanks and the fuel heaters were turned off to thicken the fuel, in hopes of making it less likely to disperse Petty Officer Thomas McKenzie said. The National Weather Service predicted 40 to 50 mph winds, 15 foot seas and freezing spray for the area on Thursday. Coast Guard Lt. Cecil McNutt said 10 people were aboard the helicopter when it went down about 6:20 p.m. Wednesday. The second helicopter was an HH-65 Dolphin from the Coast Guard cutter Alex Haley. The airlift was a treacherous affair, with the ship's final crew members hoisted one at a time from the vessel's bow in pitching and rolling conditions, Dan Magone, who was in a helicopter watching the rescue, said from Dutch Harbor. Magone said the crew members were all wearing life jackets but not survival suits. "Visibility was terrible," Magone said. "We couldn't see the ship from 200 yards away." The four people rescued after the helicopter went down were flown to Dutch Harbor for treatment. Their conditions weren't available. The water temperature was about 43 degrees and the waves were reported to be as high as 20 feet in the search area. "The survival time is right around three hours in those conditions," Rear Adm. Jim Olson, commander of the Coast Guard in Alaska, told The Associated Press about four hours after the crash. "We'll search as long as we can be effective throughout the night." "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the missing crew members," Olson said in a late night Anchorage press conference. About an hour after the crash, the freighter, owned by IMC Transworld of Singapore-based IMC Group, broke apart. Coast Guard officials late Wednesday said conditions at the site were too dark to say whether the vessel had sunk or spilled any fuel. Two earlier helicopter airlifts had ferried 18 of the ship's total crew of 26 to safety. Eight had remained aboard to try to save the vessel. The ship was starting to drag its anchor and was taking on water at that time, Olson said. All the crew were Filipino or from India, the Coast Guard said. The Selendang Ayu lost power earlier in the week during a transit between Seattle and Asia, the Coast Guard said. It was adrift and in danger of grounding on Bogoslof Island, about 50 miles northwest of Unalaska, when the agency was notified early Tuesday morning. The Haley and three tugboats were dispatched to assist it. The tug Sydney Foss took the vessel in tow Tuesday, but the tow line snapped about 7 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Coast Guard and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, which monitored the situation Tuesday and Wednesday. Efforts to secure other lines to the disabled vessel failed, and the ship continued to drift southeast toward Unalaska at 1 to 2 knots. The crew dropped one of its two anchors as the ship closed within a few miles of the island, but the chain on that anchor also snapped. Buffeted by gusting winds and 30-foot swells, the freighter came within about 4,000 feet of Unalaska's craggy west shore before its last functioning anchor caught hold with about 90 feet of water separating the vessel's bottom and the ocean floor. "The conditions are fairly dangerous," Olson said late Wednesday afternoon, hours before the helicopter crash. "The currents through the channel are pretty extreme. ... We're trying to stabilize the vessel right now." The ship was reported to have stopped drifting about a half-mile offshore, between Spray Cape and Skan Bay. Unalaska City Manager Chris Hladick said Skan Bay is rugged and rocky, with lots of wildlife and seabirds. A big winter storm moving through the Gulf of Alaska created gale conditions throughout the Aleutians on Wednesday, pounding the freighter and its rescuers. Gusts up to 60 mph were forecast by the National Weather Service overnight, but conditions were expected to weaken some today. The Alaska DEC, concerned about the prospect of the freighter going aground and spilling oil, already had planned to send personnel to the island today. A spill from the vessel could threaten Steller sea lions, sea otters, harbor seals and seabirds foraging in bays along the island's west coast, said Greg Siekaniec, manager of the Homer-based Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. Refuge biologists were traveling to Dutch Harbor on Wednesday and planned to work with the Coast Guard to identify sensitive sites and figure out how to protect them if fuel starts leaking. According to a federal hazardous materials fact sheet, the type of bunker oil on the ship is "a dense, viscous oil ... (that) usually spreads into thick, dark colored slicks" when it is spilled on water. "It's a lot of heavy oil," said Gary Folley with the state DEC. "What makes this one, I think, different, is the fact that if it does hit the beach ... it's an extremely difficult place to get to. It is chock full of sensitive areas and wildlife. There are no roads." The Selendang Ayu is registered under a Malaysian flag and owned by Singapore-based IMC Group. Efforts to reach IMC were unsuccessful. The person who answered the phone at the company offices hung up when an Associated Press reporter identified himself.
