01 December 2014

More Deadly Than They Thought

Many of you have watched the Discovery Channel's show, "The Deadliest Catch", about fisherman in the Bering Sea.

Those guys always make it back to port. These didn't:

ANCHORAGE - The U.S. Coast Guard confirms the Bering Sea sinking in Russian waters of a South Korean fishing vessel Monday, in which one person has been reported dead and 52 others are still missing.

Officials with the South Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries told CNN Monday that seven people have been rescued from the 60-person crew, which includes 35 Indonesians, 13 Filipinos, 11 South Koreans and one Russian.

The New York Times identifies the sunken vessel as the 1,753-ton trawler Oryong 501, with officials at trawler owner Sajo Industries saying the ship was apparently hit by a wave while hauling in a catch of pollock. Those rescued were in a life raft, while other crew members in life jackets jumped into 14-degree water.
Coast Guard monitors Bering Sea sinking of 60-person fishing vessel
Courtesy WCPFC
 14-degree water? That would have resulted in almost instant hypothermic shock, followed by drowning in less than a minute.

7 comments:

Corey said...

I know on Deadliest Catch they said without those survival suits they would die in less then a minute if they went into the water

Rev. Paul said...

At that temperature, that's correct. When the water warms to around 36° in the early summer, they might survive for three minutes.

SENIOR said...

That looks like a "Maru" class fishing boat. They are old and are all over the place. A lot of the drug runners use them as LSV's aka mother ships for the go fast boats in the Caribbean and eastern pacific.

Rev. Paul said...

Thanks for that, Senior; I didn't know. Didn't have them in the Mediterranean, where I spent all my time at sea.

Cathy said...

Most of us have such soft lives with no idea of the risk others take around us.
I'm watching out the window this morning as a tree guys are at least 50 feet up in a huge tree that has to come down. It's so cold they're blowing on their fingers.

Guffaw in AZ said...

At least no one's whining about it - it's not as if they were drafted!

gfa

Rev. Paul said...

Cathy, it's true that there are always dangerous professions, with men & women doing things that most would consider "crazy". Try running into a burning building when everyone else it trying to get out (saith this former firefighter).

Guffaw, are you sure? ;^)