For insight into this question we bring you an article by the US Coast Guard on how a mostly forgotten tragedy changed the face of future rescue operations in this country.

Thirty-one years ago the Coast Guard led one of the nation’s largest search and rescue cases when the 519 passengers and crew of the Dutch cruise ship Prinsendam were forced to abandon ship more than 150-miles off the coast of Alaska after an engine room fire spread throughout the vessel.

Over the course of 24 hours, Coast Guard Cutters Boutwell, Woodrush and Mellon as well as rescue aircraft deployed from Air Stations Sitka and Kodiak would work side-by-side with the U.S. Air Force, Canadian navy and an AMVER-tasked tanker to rescue all hands from 12 to 15 foot seas and 25 to 30 knot winds generated by a nearby Arctic typhoon.

USCG Photo

The Prinsendam was a 427-foot long cruise liner built in 1973. The liner was transiting through the Gulf of Alaska, approximately 120 miles south of Yakutat, Alaska, at midnight Oct. 4, 1980, when fire broke out in the engine room.

With conditions too dangerous for the deployment of small boats from the cutters, survivors were forced to climb aboard the tanker and cutters with the help of two Air Force pararescuemen while hypothermic survivors were ferried to shore by rescue helicopters. The helicopters would then refuel and head back out to the scene for their next load of passengers.

In the immediate aftermath of the rescue, the Coast Guard identified areas of improvement in search and rescue operations which would save tens of thousands of lives in the decades ahead.

In the findings of the Prinsendam investigation, Rear Adm. Richard Knapp noted, “The training and expertise of the Air Force pararescuemen was responsible for the survival of passengers …. It is notable that we were forced to rely on another agency to provide these personnel. I recommend we develop a similar, highly-trained, well-equipped rescue elite.”

Those “rescue elite” would of course become the aviation survival technicians of the Coast Guard rescue swimmer program.

Another deficiency cited in the investigation was the need for rescue helicopters to return to shore to refuel while survivors remained in the water. The critical role rescue helicopters play during extended search and rescue cases would ultimately lead to the helicopter in-flight refueling capability now standard on Coast Guard rescue helicopters.

U.S. Coast Guard photo.

The rescue of the Prinsendam was particularly significant because of the distance traveled by the rescuers, the coordination of independent organizations and the fact that all 519 passengers and crew were rescued without loss of life or serious injury.

These new capabilities would more than prove their value in future cases ranging from the Coast Guard response to Hurricane Katrina to another Arctic rescue when the Alaska Ranger was lost at sea.

At a time when America considers its Arctic future and the role the Coast Guard will play in protecting American lives and national interests in the often harsh conditions found above the Arctic Circle, the Prinsendam rescue serves as a stark reminder of the necessity for a robust Coast Guard presence in America’s Arctic waters.

This article was originally written by  Christopher Lagan and Ademide Adedokun for the blog CG Compass. 

Doola No. 3 tanker

An explosion tore through a South Korean tanker on Sunday morning killing five crew members and leaving 6 others missing.   The unexplained explosion occurred off the coast of Incheon located on the western shore of South Korea after the vessel unloaded a cargo of oil products.  Five people aboard the ship were rescued.

Photos of the tanker, the 4191-ton Doola No. 3, show that the vessel was nearly torn in half by the explosion and was left partially submerged.  The explosion took place about three miles north of Jawol Island near Incheon at around 8:05 a.m. local time, the Coast Guard said.

The Doola No. 3, which usually carries refined petroleum products and chemicals, was carrying 80 tons of Bunker-C oil and 40 tons of diesel oil for fuel when it exploded, according to a coast guard statement.

“The vessel usually transports diesel, but this time it carried gasoline. We are now examining whether it had any relation to the explosion,” an official from Doola Shipping, the owner of the vessel, said in a statement that was obtained by Yonhap news agency.

Yonhap has also reported that the ship’s captain said the explosion may have been caused by static electricity that ignited gasoline vapors from an onboard tank where 11 crew members were working before the blast.

A total of 11 Korean and 5 Myanmarese were aboard the Doola No. 3, the Coast Guard said.

Photo courtesy of the National Science Foundation

Update 2: 13 Jan 2012

A United States Airforce (USAF) C-130 Hercules aircraft departed McMurdo station at 12.35pm today (NZDT) with the 7 injured crew on board. Three of the men are seriously injured.

• The aircraft’s ETA in Christchurch is 8.45pm this evening (NZDT).
• The injured crew will be taken to Christchurch hospital on arrival for assessment and further treatment as required.
• Note that photos and video are not available. The USAF advise there will be no media access or interviews when the aircraft lands in Christchurch.
• RCCNZ’s role in the incident will come to an end once the aircraft lands in Christchurch

UPDATE 13 Jan 2012:

The USAF C-17 Globemaster III aircraft was unable to make its scheduled flight from Christchurch to McMurdo Base overnight because of weather conditions at the destination.

• The Nathaniel B. Palmer carrying the injured crew has arrived at McMurdo, and the injured crew are being transferred by helicopter to the base.
• They will be flown to Christchurch this afternoon (leaving approximately 12.15pm NZDT) on a special flight using a C-130 which was already at McMurdo. The flight is expected to arrive at Christchurch at around 8pm NZDT.

(MARITIME NZ) A United States Airforce (USAF) C17 Starlifter Globemaster III aircraft will leave Christchurch tonight to help recover seven crew injured in a fire on board the Korean fishing vessel Jeong Woo 2 in the Ross Sea early on Wednesday morning (NZDT).

The Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) is currently working with a range of agencies to help facilitate the recovery of the seven injured men from the Korean vessel back to New Zealand for hospital treatment.

RCCNZ Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator Greg Johnston said attempts were being made to get a team, including Vietnamese and Indonesian interpreters, on board the aircraft, which was already on a scheduled flight due to leave Christchurch about 9.30pm today.

“Weather permitting, it’s expected that the USAF aircraft will get to McMurdo base about 2am tomorrow (Friday), arriving about the same time as the American research vessel Nathaniel B Palmer, which is currently making her way through the ice with the seven injured crew on board.

“The rescue mission is, however, dependent on the weather and sea conditions, with fog at McMurdo currently causing poor visibility. However, a back up aircraft, a LC 130 Hercules based at McMurdo, is also available if the larger C17 aircraft can’t take off.”

Mr Johnston said once both the vessel and the aircraft had reached McMurdo, the injured crew would be transferred to the aircraft and flown back to Christchurch for treatment.

“All going well, the aircraft will depart McMurdo about 5am, arriving back in New Zealand around 10am, but there are still a number of factors that could cause this to be delayed.”

Two of the seven injured men have received extensive burns (50% and 30% respectively), but have recovered consciousness, and five others have received lighter burns injuries. The Nathaniel B Palmer has medical staff and facilities on board to assess the injured crew’s medical needs, with advice that they are currently stable. The ship’s progress will depend on ice and weather conditions. Three crew have died in the fire.

In the meantime, the 30 surviving crew are all on board the Jeong Woo 2’s sister ship, the Jeong Woo 3, with plans for the vessel to rendezvous with the Korean ice-breaker the Araon, which will collect the crew and take them back to Lyttleton, with the ship estimated to arrive on January 19.

Shot of the Jeong Woo 2 taken from the vessel Nathaniel B Palmer, Credit: Johnny Pierce/Nathaniel B Palmer

Once safe to do so, the wreck of the Jeong Woo 2 will be towed by its sister ship to a position north of 60 degrees south when her future will be decided.

The 51 metre fishing vessel Jeong Woo 2 caught fire in the Ross Sea about 2000 nautical miles (3704 kilometres) southeast of New Zealand and about 600 kilometres north-northeast of McMurdo Base.

A number of vessels responded to the vessel’s distress call, issued in the early hours of Wednesday morning (NZDT). The call was picked up by another Korean fishing vessel, Hong Jin 707, and relayed to RCCNZ by the New Zealand vessel Antarctic Chieftain just before 3am (NZDT) on 11 January.

The R/V Nathaniel B Palmer icebreaker. Photo: Wiki Commons

A Korean fishing vessel caught fire early Wednesday morning in the Ross Sea, approximately 2,000 nautical miles southeast of New Zealand, killing three crew members and injuring several others.  The RCCNZ says that as many as 40 crew members were onboard when it caught fire.

The vessel, the 51 meter Jeong Woo 2, sent out a distress call during the early hours of Wednesday morning which was picked up by another Korean fishing vessel in the area and then relayed to officials from the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ). A number of vessels responded to the call including the two Korean fishing vessels, the Jeong Woo 3 and Hong Jin 707, were able to reach the Jeong Woo 2 and evacuate the crew from the burning vessel.

Three of the crew members were reported missing and presumed dead after the fire tore through the accomodation block of the vessel.  Two others are understood to have suffered extensive burn injuries and another five crew members are also injured with less serious burns, RCCNZ says.

The RCCNZ later confirmed that the injured crew members from the burning vessel had been transferred to the United States research vessel Nathaniel B Palmer, which has medical staff and facilities on board.  The vessel is now sailing to McMurdo Base about 600 kilometers to the southwest.  The trip is expected to take between 24 and 30 hours, depending on ice and weather conditions.

Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator Geoff Lunt said the Nathaniel B Palmer reported on Wednesday evening that the vessel was well alight from bow to stern, but still on an even keel.

It’s been a busy couple weeks for rescue coordinators at RCCNZ.  In December, a fishing vessel with 32 crew began taking on water in the same general area of the Ross Sea and it took 10 days for the rescues to reach the stranded ship due to ice conditions.   Earlier, in 2010, a Korean fishing vessel sank with a crew of 42 while fishing in the Southern Ocean. Only 20 were rescued in that incident.

MOSCOW (Dow Jones)–Some crew members were still aboard a Russian nuclear submarine ablaze early Friday after its hull caught fire during shipyard repairs but there was no radiation threat, officials said.

“A part of the crew is on board the submarine and is monitoring the temperature and carbon dioxide parameters in all sections of the boat,” RIA Novosti quoted a defense ministry statement as saying.

The 11,740-metric ton Yekaterinburg, one of Russia’s most powerful nuclear submarines, was undergoing repairs in the northern region of Murmansk near Norway when some wooden structures in the shipyard caught fire Thursday.

The flames spread quickly to the outer hull of the submarine and continued to burn overnight despite a massive salvage operation involving 11 fire brigades along with several helicopters and a navy fire boat.

Nine firemen were suffering from smoke inhalation, an emergency situations ministry source was quoted as saying.

The local emergencies ministry said the radiation levels on board the vessel were normal and posed no threat because its two nuclear reactors had been switched off before repairs.

“These parameters are within the limits of natural radiation fluctuation levels. There is no threat to the population,” the Murmansk emergencies ministry said in a statement.

The submarine was also stripped of its 16 inter-continental ballistic missiles and conventional rockets, defense officials said.

It was not immediately clear how many crew members were aboard the boat. Russian news reports said the Yekaterinburg can carry up to 140 seamen.

The flames were first reported to be contained overnight but defense officials said the craft continued to smoulder Friday morning and that fire fighters were still working on the scene.

“There are no open flames,” a defense ministry statement said.

© Photo Vaygach nuclear icebreaker archive via RIA Novosti

A fire broke out aboard the Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker, Valgach, killing two crew members and seriously injuring one.  The fire occurred early Thursday morning as the icebreaker was escorting ship through Yenisei Bay in northern Siberia.

The fire reportedly tore through the living quarters of the ship and an initial investigation said it was likely started by an electical short circuit.  Officials said in a statement that the nuclear reactor aboard the ship was not damaged in the fire and no radiation was leaked.  The fire has since been extinguished.

Earlier this year, a sister ship, the Taimyr, leaked radioactive cooling water from its reactor in the same area and had to be escorted to Murmansk for repairs, according to a report by the Moscow Times.

You can read the official statement from the ship owner HERE (if you can read Russian)

The incident occurred this morning at the Keppel Subic Shipyard where a vessel was being repaired, Keppel Subic Shipyard President and General Manager Mok Kim Whang said in a statement Friday.

Seven workers were also injured.

Keppel said it is cooperating with the Philippine’s authorities and will provide further updates when more details are available.

-By Gaurav Raghuvanshi, Dow Jones Newswires

UPDATE:  According to an update from Keppel, the incident occurred at a dock where a vessel was being repaired. A stern ramp fell on a scaffolding underneath a ramp where the workers were working.

Built in 1983, the 261 meter-long & 127575 DWT oil tanker Lentera Bangsa caught fire 100 miles from the coast of Jakarta Bay Friday morning. The vessel was being used as a Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) vessel in the Widuri field of the Java Sea and was operating in close proximity  to a China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) offshore drilling rig when the fire broke out.

The fire, which broke out at 9 a.m. local time on Friday, injured at least four workers among the crew of 30 and one individual remains missing. A local official has asserted that the fire has been extinguished, but was unable to provide details regarding the nature of the fire, where, or how it started.  Witness reports are mixed with some believing the fire started in the vessel’s engine room while others stating it started in a cabin.

The FSO has a storage capacity of 700,000 barrels of oil a day, was upgraded from a tanker to FSO by COSCO Guangdong Shipyard in October 2010 and began working the Widuri field early in 2011.

LONDON (Dow Jones)–A fire that broke out on an oil tanker after a pirate attack off the Yemeni coast has now been extinguished, an official at the company managing the ship said Wednesday.

Though a large-scale oil disaster appears to have been avoided, news of the fire on the 1 million barrels tanker will revive security fears on a shipping route that has suffered increasingly bold attacks from Somali pirates.

The fire “was extinguished,” said Andreas Louka, a legal adviser at Athens’ Central Mare Inc., the company managing the Brillante Virtuoso tanker.

Asked if the tanker, which was on its way from Ukraine to China, could still deliver its cargo, Louka said “they are going to assess” the damage first.

“The crew is safe, the vessel is safe. There is no pollution,” the official has previously said.

-By Benoit Faucon, Dow Jones Newswires

HOUSTON (Dow Jones)–U.S. regulators said Wednesday that a fire that took place aboard a Mariner Energy Inc. oil and gas platform last September was caused by the failure of a nearly 30-year-old piece of equipment.

In addition, the emergency generator failed to start and couldn’t supply power to the firewater pump, forcing the 13-person crew to abandon the platform and jump into the water, approximately 102 miles off the Louisiana coast. The crew were later rescued. The fire aboard Mariner’s Vermillion 380-A platform came amid an increased focus on offshore safety in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon explosion in April 2010, which killed 11 and unleashed the worst accidental offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

In a statement, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement said that a fire tube collapsed inside the platform’s “heater-treater,” a piece of equipment designed to separate oily water emulsions into oil and water. The fire tube progressively weakened over many years due to such factors as corrosion and heat. “The report underscores the need for offshore operators to maintain their equipment consistent with existing standards, to protect the safety of personnel working onboard and to protect the environment,” the agency said.

The BOEMRE panel that investigated the incident recommended that the agency issue non-compliance citations to Mariner Energy Inc., which has since been acquired by Apache Corp. (APA). Those citations could be used as the basis for future civil penalties, BOEMRE said.

Apache didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

-By Angel Gonzalez, Dow Jones Newswires

The full report can be download at http://www.boemre.gov/ooc/pdfs/Panel_VR380AMAY23FullReport.pdf.