Watch: Fishermen Plucked From Frigid Waters Minutes Before Boat Goes Under
The salmon fishing vessel disappeared in the waters off the coast of Alaska.
— -- Four fishermen who found themselves stranded on a sinking fishing boat in the Alaska Sea are doing well today, after surviving a dramatic rescue that was captured on tape by the US Coast Guard.
Around 3:42 a.m. Wednesday, the Coast Guard received a mayday call from the captain of the Kupreanof, saying that the 73-foot salmon fishing vessel was taking on water in the rough seas off Alaska, Coast Guard officials said in a news release. The Coast Guard said it sent an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter to rescue the crew.
With just minutes to spare before the boat sank, the fishermen were clutching the sides of the vessel.
The Coast Guard team -- made up of Petty Officer Second Class Jamie Flood, Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Stoeckler, Lt. Benjamin Neale and Petty Officer Second Class Jason Yelvington -- then sent in Yelvington, a rescue swimmer trained to jump from the helicopter into the sea who swam through deadly conditions after the boat's captain reported an additional problem.
"I've got one man that's pretty old and can't swim," the boat captain told the Coast Guard.
Yelvington told ABC News today that being in the Alaska Sea that day, was like being in a "washing machine."
"[It was] not the most pleasant of condition for myself," he said. "It was pretty choppy down at the water. ... It was kind of hard to tell which direction the water was coming from or which way was pulling you."
He helped the four fishermen who were donning orange, waterproof immersion suits to protect them from hypothermia, reach the life raft they'd deployed at the boat's stern. One at a time, the fishermen were placed in the helicopter's basket and then hoisted into the hovering chopper.
And just as the last fisherman was pulled up, the boat disappeared into the waves.
"I don't think any of us knew that the vessel was going to sink as quickly as it did," Neale said today. "I think we were all surprised."
Yelvington was the last one into the helicopter, after spending 20 minutes in some of the coldest waters on the planet.
The Coast Guard team today called the fishermen "rock stars" for calling for help quickly, deploying their raft and putting on their immersion suits.
It said that off the coast of Alaska, the water temperature is about 40 degrees Fahrenheit or colder and the waves reach up to 6 feet high.
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