hard to imagine this hasn’t been posted yet here in the forum. Rob got it in the News the otherday but I am not seeeing it till now. HOLY FUCKING SHIT is all I can say!
can you imagine being the poor fucker hanging from the wire beneath the helo and watching all this happening directly below you? IN-FUCKING-CREDIBLE!
SAR operations in heavy weather are no child’s play. Reminds me of this incident:
That was an ATB that ran into engine problems in heavy weather in 2004. Half of the crew was evacuated from the cargo compartment of the barge, but the rest had to jump to the sea after the engines finally failed and the combination drifted towards a lighthouse, broke in two and sank. When the captain was being lifted to the helicopter, the cable severed and he fell back to the sea with the rescue swimmer. They were later rescued by another helicopter.
I’ve been on that barge when I was a kid, but with a different tug. The system was originally designed for a rigid mounting and two purpose-built pusher vessels, but when they got the third converted tugboat, the barges were retrofitted with Articouple devices. Those eventually ripped off the deck when the vessel sank. I always thought it was a bad idea…
