The following is the text of a press release issued by the U.S. Coast Guard:
(JUNEAU, Alaska) — Coast Guard aircrews are conducting two rescue cases in Alaska Thursday night.
A Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules aircraft and crew are searching for two crewmembers reported to have fallen overboard from the Hanjin Pretoria, a 925-foot Liberian-flagged container ship, 850 miles south of Kodiak Thursday.
The Seventeenth Coast Guard District command center received a call from the master of the Hanjin Pretoria at 3:45 p.m. reporting that two crewmen, a 29-year-old and a 42-year old, fell overboard from the vessel while working together on deck. The ship was transiting from Long Beach, Calif. to Asia.
The Coast Guard launched an Hercules aircraft and crew from Air Station Kodiak at 5:51 p.m. that arrived on scene at 8:20 p.m. The rescue crew will search for approximately three hours before returning to Kodiak to refuel. If the men aren’t found during the first search the Coast Guard will conduct a first light search Friday.
On scene weather conditions are 40 mph winds, 20-foot seas and the water temperature is 46 degrees.
The Coast Guard is simultaneously conducting a medevac in Southeast Alaska. An MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter crew from Air Station Sitka is transporting a 22-month-old baby suffering of possible pneumonia from the Skagway clinic to Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau. The crew was launched from Sitka at 8:34 p.m. and will arrive in Juneau early Friday morning.
