The Icelandic Coast Guard rescues BBC Film Crew
The Coast Guard’s helicopter took five members of the BBC film crew to safety yesterday, after their boat ran into difficulties around the Westfjords.
The boat lost engine power and began to take on water just north of Hornstrandir, in the northwest, leading the crew to request assistance from the Coast Guard. Two boats from Íslensk search and rescue went to the helicopter on the scene and other boats in the area were notified of the situation if further assistance was needed.
A fishing boat based in Ísafjörður began to tow the injured ship back to port, a project that was then taken on by one of the search and rescue vessels. The helicopter took the rescued crew ashore and no injuries were reported according to mbl.is. The Coast Guard has released a video from the operation, which is shown below.
Iceland has no navy, but territorial security measures are carried out by the Coast Guard, (Icelandic Coast Guard). In sea rescue operations such as these, they work in parallel with the Icelandic search and rescue organization, (Slysavarnafélagið Landsbjörg), which are voluntary organizations that are now funded as a charity.
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