As per the news report the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley has rescued 28 survivors of the Taiwanese fishing vessel Hou Chun 11 and transferred them safe and sound into an awaiting small outrigger to be taken ashore to Christmas Island, Kiribati. According to the Coast Guard two members of the Taiwanese crew who suffered severe burns in the vessel fire were the first to be transported off the cutter.
A Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point HC-130 Hercules aircraft crew medevaced the two crewmen to Straub Clinic and Hospital in Honolulu for more advanced medical care. The remaining 26 survivors were assisted off the cutter and taken to shore where they will board another vessel to return to Taiwan.
It is informed that the Fourteenth District command center watch standers received a call from the Hou Chun 11 crew reporting a shipboard fire on their vessel and that they were abandoning the ship into their liferafts late Monday evening. Throughout the night Coast Guard and Navy aircrews monitored the liferafts 900 miles southwest of Honolulu.
After rigorous search the crew of the cutter rescued the 28 survivors using small boat crews. They were provided dry clothes, food and water and the injured were treated by the ship’s corpsman. The 283-foot cutter is homeported in Kodiak, Alaska, and was in Hawaii on a training mission and is scheduled to return to Kodiak sometime in February.
