Airmen rescue Icelandic fisherman

  • Published
  • By JO2 Travis D. Eisele
  • Iceland Defense Force Public Affairs
NAVAL AIR STATION KEFLAVÍK, Iceland (USAFENS) --  Airmen assigned to the 56th Rescue Squadron based out of Naval Air Station Keflavík, Iceland, completed their second rescue within a month after evacuating an injured Icelandic fisherman April 10.

Most recently, 56th Rescue Squadron Airmen recovered and safely transported a fisherman suffering from multiple injuries and having difficulty breathing after receiving a blunt trauma caused by a broken cable during an excursion approximately 200 miles southeast of NAS Keflavík.

At 1:16 a.m. the 56th RQS operations supervisor was notified by the Icelandic Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center about the incident. Alert operations and maintenance personnel began gathering information for the rescue and preparing an aircraft for a launch.

“One minute you are sleeping, next minute you get a call,” said Senior Airman Jason Chan, 56th RQS pararescue journeyman on the mission. “(This was) totally unexpected, but despite that, it is just like so many other calls we receive.”

With weather conditions listed as marginal, but safe with zero percent illumination, the aircraft lifted off and proceeded toward the south coast of Iceland at 3:10 a.m. The aircrew followed the coastline toward the last known location of the vessel.

Weather conditions continued to deteriorate, the crew said. They had to contend with blowing snow, light icing, 35-knot winds and zero percent moon illumination. The aircrew used infrared searchlight and adjusted their altitude, airspeed and course to ensure safe passage to the rescue location.

The aircrew made several attempts to radio the crew of the fishing vessel directly, but their initial attempts were unsuccessful. All incoming information about the present position and reports had to be relayed from the Icelandic Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center. It then was relayed to the aircrew through the 56th Operations supervisor.

Even with poor visibility, at 5:10 a.m. the aircrew located the fishing vessel by using the aircraft’s weather radar.

The shape of the ship along with rough seas made it difficult for the aircrew to hoist the pararescue personnel onto the vessel. But after several attempts, one of the Airmen successfully fully boarded the vessel and began an initial assessment of the patient.

With the injured fisherman loaded into a litter and hoisted up to the hovering helicopter, the aircrew began plotting a course for Reykjavík Hospital, but fuel and weather conditions en route to the hospital forced the helicopter to land at NAS Keflavík. Upon landing, the patient was transported to Reykjavík Hospital by a waiting ambulance.

“Once again, the Keflavik team was able to accomplish a life-saving mission despite unpredictable weather and conditions,” said Maj. Christopher Prejean, 56th RQS mission copilot and assistant director of operations.

The success of missions like this is directly attributable to the teamwork of the crew, said Maj. Brett Hartnett, 56th RQS aircraft commander during the most recent rescue.

“One of the strengths of our unit is that we’re small and we know each other very well,” he said. “We were working on mitigating the hazards that night with bad weather, rough seas and very low visibility. We always work as a team and this rescue was a real crew effort. There is no one person who stands out; they all do. Everyone including our maintenance folks worked together that night, and played a part in saving the Icelandic gentleman's life.”