Fellow Tugboat Captain Falls Overboard

Just the other day we learned that one of Dh's fellow tugboat captains had fallen overboard while working and had narrowly escaped dying. He had gone out on the back deck for a minute in only his pajamas and tripped falling into the icy waters without being noticed by his crew members. His screams were not heard and all he could do was watch the boat travel further and further away. Once they noticed he was missing they put out a call for help but it is like searching for a needle in a haystack out there! Thankfully over an hour later he was miraculously still treading water making his way towards Quadra island which was some ways off in the distance and crossed the path of the Pacific Faith fishing vessel which rescued him and pulled him out of the water.

This is one of my worst fears as I always worry when Dh goes to work. He has always worked on the water starting as a commercial fisherman in his teens working in horrendous weather off the coast of Alaska and now as a tugboat captain he still sees his fair share of storms and quite often works in the Nakwakto Rapids which are some of the worlds fastest navigable tidal currents in the world which actually claimed an entire tugboat to its watery depths just barely a year ago.

If you want to see the interview of the recent incident you can view the 2 minute newscast here. I'm off to go and do some deep breathing as Dh is about t0 head out for work in a couple of hours and I don't want him to go!

UPDATE: I had a bad feeling last night about Dh heading to work. I thought it was just because of the mishap with the other captain but a couple of hours after Dh left he returned home again because the tug and barges he was going to assist didn't show. Not long after he got a call that the barges were floating loose and there is no sign of the tug that was pulling them. Dh has gone to help and as of now they are assuming that the tug has sunk and are searching for the crew if there are any survivors :( I am so sad for the families, this is so tragic.

2nd Update: They found them!!!! Dh came across the crew on a beach. They had managed to get onto their life raft and escape before the tug went down. Apparently in the bad weather the barges had started pull the tug back and under the water causing it to sink. They just rushed them to the ER. Thank goodness they were all found alive.

~ Rosina