Last week, the U.S. Coast Guard reported that a 15-year-old boy was rescued from his overturned fishing boat in a capsize the caused the deaths of his two fishing companions.
In an interview with ABC News after the rescue, the Coast Guard helicopter pilot who found the boy said that he and the rest the crew were on “an emotional roller coaster” as they swept the Alaska’s Bering Sea looking for survivors.
Lt. Commander Jonathon Resch said, “We are beyond excited and beyond grateful that we found him, and at the same time, we are overwhelmingly remorseful that we didn’t find the other two in time.”
The boy and the overturned boat were found four miles west of St. Lawrence Island. The boys had departed the island the previous Friday and were due home on Sunday morning. They were reported missing on Sunday evening and, due to bad weather, the search did not start until Monday morning.
The coast Guard coordinated the rescue working with a nearby good Samaritan ship the Northwestern Explorer which was nearby. The. coast Guuard dropped flares and a liferaft to improve visibility and the ship was soon alongside.
The teen was deemed to suffering from hypothermia. The two drowned teens were also found. The three were transported by helicopter to Nome.
Finding a survivor Resch said was ”A miracle. People don’t survive those scenarios. People don’t flip boats and survive nights. They don’t do it in warm water, let alone in water that’s, you know, 40 degrees.”
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