Prince William assists in Irish Sea rescue
LONDON - It was a rough overnight shift for Prince William.
By the time the Royal Air force rescue helicopter, which he was co-piloting, first arrived on the scene in the early hours of Sunday morning, the Russian cargo ship that had put out a distress call had already sunk in the Irish Sea.
The task — recorded by the helicopter's night-view camera — was to try to find and rescue survivors — two of which were found bobbing a life-raft.
A winchman lowered and — one by one — he managed to get a harness around the seamen and they were hoisted to safety. One crewman from the ship is known to have died — an empty life ring the only sign of where he might have been. Five others are thought to be missing.
Pictures: Will wings it
Special section: The royal wedding
Pictures: Kate's royal looks
Pictures: Prince William and Kate
The strong gale was still blowing as other helicopters and ships joined the search. But the Russian cargo ship had gone down fast.
"[The ship] was hit by what he described as an enormous wave; she rolled, broke her back," said Ray Carson, a British Coast Guard spokesman. "She sank very quickly."
Prince William is on a three-year assignment as a search and rescue pilot — working toward his full captain's ticket.
This past summer in Canada, he was shown how the Sea King helicopter he flies can actually be landed on the water's surface — not a technique the British use and not one that would have been much use in the conditions of this weekend's rescue.
The Russian ship — the Swanland — is now gone.
Prince William is now off shift, he and the other three members of his crew did what they could on a cruel night at sea.
