They Were Trapped On A Sinking Ship For 11 Hours | Trapped S1 EP2 | Wonder

[Music] [Music] writer to get nasty we've got to get out of here [Music] January 2003 a captain and his ship are in trouble on the Atlantic Ocean the crew aboard the finished cargo ship Camilla struggles to get its 7,000 horsepower engine up and running it's been breaking down all through the night one of some in the engine stopped working I woke up instantly with the notion that something was wrong [Music] the massive 12 cylinder engine has a badly damaged oil filter so there's no oil to lubricate the engines crankshaft the crankshaft grinds against the bearings that connect it to the rotating Pistons that constant friction has caused the engine to seiza and die [Music] captain Marco Ricola knows that with no engine power he and his 15 crew members are trapped his 28 year old third officer Mayu sorry loves the adventure of working on the high seas but this is a new and frightening experience Gabi Allah Mita when we realized that the engine couldn't be fixed I remember thinking this is an impossible situation I thought to myself now something is going to happen and there's nothing I can do about it I felt numb the kamila is stranded more than 450 kilometers from the nearest port st. John's the Grand Banks off the east coast of Canada is the last place you want engine failure the water here is shallow a shallow seabed creates massive waves the area is also known for its unpredictable weather more than 7,000 ships have sunk in these waters over the centuries and now even worse news is rolling in and tell them to double check with ESCO volume just attack doesn't look good coming straight for us we've run out of time a cyclone is approaching from the southwest winds will hit a hundred and fifty kilometres an hour waves will reach 24 metres enough to sink the stricken Camilla the storm is still hours away but captain rock Allah knows that help is also far away anyone who tries to rescue his crew will have to outrace the storm rock Allah is forced to consider all options for escape the nearest tugboat is 20 hours away but it's his best hope you have to try for a tug tug boat about this far in this you really think the course even though I knew that our situation was uncertain I could not show him or else everyone would start worrying and that would lead to panic [Music] because the Camila is unable to move forward it has no resistance against the power of the storm when the Cyclones waves hit this shallow floor their energy gets compressed creating huge breaking waves which can smash windows shift cargo and potentially even turn the ship upside down the waves come in like this and beat and shake you and there is nothing you can do about it right here on top of us one thing's for sure we got it out of here I'll call the office nor 46:55 one west 4649 eight this is my you saris first job as an officer during her six year sailing career she has never had to fear for her life until now the coolest cadet said so on automatic that may also thunk when we realized that the storm would hit us if we didn't get out of its way I had to switch into a certain mental mode in order to cope with the situation because even if something was going to happen to us I couldn't start crying there or panicking weighs six maybe seven meters if a tugboats going to save them it will have to outrace the store okay the engine won't be fixed for 24 hours so we're looking for time okay okay thanks what they say they're going to try to send us a talk great [Music] so how's it looking out there it's a big low-pressure system moving in from the east it's gonna be poor visibility high winds waves are gonna be very big more than 600 kilometers from the stranded Camila is home base for 103 search and rescue squadron veteran helicopter pilot majors uber Tebow arrives on duty we are asked to go in situation that are extremes and we have to make decision also that may mean somebody's gonna live or somebody's gonna die in the coming hours Tebow will face many life-and-death decisions as he and his team put their lives on the line to save 16 sailors the Camila has now been stranded for two hours the storm is moving closer okay we'll do all right thanks there are no tugboats close enough to get to the Camilla before the storm hits captain Rock Allah we'll have to find another way to save the lives of his crew could not afford to take the risk of staying there in a storm of this magnitude and then in the morning they have to check whether we were afloat or had drowned he now faces the moment every skipper dress [Music] when I started to make a decision about abandoning the ship it was certainly the toughest decision of my life and of my entire sailing career 46 56 8 North 46 47 1 West phenolics hooks head giggle there was a moment when I was quite terrified it happened when the Coast Guard asked how many people our life rafts can take well then I thought if we have to go on those rafts in that weather that will be really serious the once and many my knees love those but somehow I managed to wipe these thoughts from my mind and calm myself down the ship is now rocking so uncontrollably that it's simply not possible to attempt escape in the lifeboats we cannot stay here but lifeboats are not an option an m1 emergency top priority because the Camila's crew is in danger of injury or death the hopes of rescue for captain Dracula third officer sorry and the rest of the crew now hinge on a helicopter reaching them before the storm hits but the nearest helicopter is in gander 618 kilometers away st. John's is the closest point of land the entire journey is more than a thousand kilometers on top of that the helicopter will have to hover for more than an hour to hoist the 16 sailors to safety it's impossible without refueling [Music] urgent warmer in standby crew report to operations immediately we're in standby true report to operations immediately okay guys we've got a cargo vessel out of Finland they've lost their range he's almost 450 kilometers offshore from st. John's this mission will push men and machine to the limit major t-bo's copilot is captain Andrew Mercer Mercer spent years flying tactical helicopters around the world but on this six-man team he's the new kid on the block thank Hibernia it's probably gonna be our best bet major Tebow is counting on a fuel stop at the Hibernia oil drilling platform located 150 kilometers from the camila it will enable the helicopter to make the entire round trip far as time on scene I know you guys would like as much as possible major Tebow has calculated exactly how much time they can spend on the rescue itself and still have enough fuel to get back to home base by my calculation I can give you 75 minutes that's less than five minutes to hoist each of the 16 sailors pretty much with each passing minute weather conditions deteriorate as the storm moves closer to the stricken vessel before abandoning ship the crew closes all doors and conduits in order to make the camilla as watertight as possible third officer Meyer sari notifies everyone of the decision to abandon ship back at the base major Tebow is relying on this impressive piece of machinery to save the lives of the sailors newly-acquired ch 149 cormorant his stripped excess equipment from the helicopter to make room for 16 passengers he must eliminate all unnecessary weight the lighter the load the more fuel they can carry and Tebow knows that every drop will count on this mission an ad copter is not like a car you cannot run out of fuel and park it on the side of the road I mean running out of fuel is not an option with little to do but wait captain rock Allah considers the consequences of his decision folks would think Oh suppose because of our cat making a decision is sometimes a little difficult but if you make right decisions than anyone who knows about sailing will know that this guy is not dumb he has been able to make the right decision at a critical moment but if you make wrong decisions after that your career may be gone as well [Music] sergeant Rob de dito will be responsible for operating the rescue hoist before takeoff he double checks to make sure that this lifeline is in perfect working order right hand out is approved service winds are 3 1 0 15 gusting 20 knots after takeoff myself at the cyclone is closing in on the kamila for the rescuers the race is on to get there first I would lying to you if the journalists are published adrenaline is definitely pumping in your minds rushing on going through all these different scenarios how can I make it better where can I go for fuel do I need medical it just keeps going on and on and on and on and I just keep going through this scenario going through problems coming up with answers solutions it's just a constant your head's going all the time until it's done at the end four major tebow the cormorant is the ultimate flying machine it's three powerful turbine engines produce an incredible 6400 horsepower I often compare the camera to an f1 racecar a machine with that much technology in it and it's also a machine that you push to its limit fairly often in the job we do the cormorant shaped rotor blades protected by titanium strips along the edge improve lift and increase speed it also means this helicopter can operate successfully in extremely high winds but even the cormorant has its limits if they get caught in the approaching cyclone major tebow will have to abort the mission rescue headquarters has warned captain rock Allah that it's not certain the helicopter can get to the kamila not of course there was a sense of distress when we were told that the helicopter may not be able to come if the wind picks up and there was naturally a sense of uncertainty on the ship about what was really going to happen will they be able to get us out of there or will they not be able to get us out because the crew is in danger the ships owners have already contacted the families of everyone on board [Music] you clear cap I messed up don't they stymie that all is it one of the worst feelings was the fact that my parents and sister knew about my situation but I couldn't contact them to tell them how it's going so far it was really bad to think about how they must have felt when they didn't really know anything well other than the fact that the ship was in distress at sea in a storm I started reading a book to get my mind away from it so that I would not panic I said around took deep breaths and calm myself down not to do anything stupid like get nervous or overreact a sonic in the emitter to better he saw her almost Orica Anka you literally alkaloid are you it did help me it was like a meditation the pilots plan to refuel at the Hibernia oil rig is shattered they've just been informed that Hibernia can't supply them with fuel for us okay figure out my bernie out of fuel we got information saying that the Hibernia had run out of fuel and being the biggest all producer out there was kindest ironic that they didn't have the fuel for us major Tebow was forced to divert to another oil rig to refuel the cormorant heads for the Henry Goodrich drilling platform an additional 35 kilometers away from the camila the diversion will add 10 minutes to the journey that means less time for the rescue itself and now there's no hope of beating the storm it's closing in at a rate of 85 kilometres an hour the Henry Goodrich is a floating rig not anchored to the seabed so landing and high winds is extremely dangerous Tebow will not be able to control the landing from his side of the helicopter so to keep the Le copter in the in in to win and to keep visual with the platform I had to let him do fly I didn't have the references on my side co-pilot Mercer has never landed on a floating platform before it's a rare and difficult operation that requires enormous skill and nerves of steel a critical moment to capture on video one of the search and rescue technicians starts the camera rolling as copilot Mercer closes in on the rig let them know we're coming in rescued 9-1-1 to goodrich city permission to land for refueling over the cormorant has landed but now the helicopter is in danger of being blown off the platform in order to prevent this Mercer has to reverse the angle of the rotor blade a technique known as negative pitch this creates a downward force and pushes the helicopter onto the landing back where she sucked ourselves on to the ORAC it's a really neat thing that we can do I don't think very magic helicopters can do that on the Camilla captain rock Allah prepares to abandon ship yes one can't help but wonder what my wife was thinking and whether we would ever see each other again in this world when this thought came I just had to push it to the back of my mind because I had to look after things at hand and then think about it again when the right time came after the stop on the oil platform the cormorant has just enough fuel to get them to the Camilla hover for 75 minutes to hoist the stranded crew to safety and fly four hundred and seventy-seven kilometers to the nearest land and st. John's but then just before takeoff the unthinkable happens no failure you've got to come failure switching over to main system can you read me rah can you hear me the cormorants complex fiber-optic communication system has stopped working we're gonna do this by the book while Tebow and Mercer can talk to each other they can't communicate with flight engineer Rob the dito in the back and they have to be able to talk to him to execute the hoisting operation bring her to on DC bus rigor 3 on DC bus now the major has a gut-wrenching decision to make press on or abort the mission altogether let's run everything twice I'll break her 3tc bus the first thing that came in our head was that we won't be able to do this you know if we cannot communicate there's no way we're gonna be able to recover these people so the first thing I think for all the crew members was you know were stuff we're gonna have to go back there's only an hour and 40 minutes until sunset barely enough time to get to the Camilla and do a 75 minute hoisting operation Tebow and Mercer systematically reset all the breakers on board proper of anything gotcha major eventually success the delay has cost another precious 15 minutes well I am one who dis to be missing get unruly when I left my cabin for the last time I had those things we were allowed to take with us a few papers and a passport I had packed my suitcase and I think I made my bed just in case if the ship doesn't sink somebody might come and see how I had lived there captain ROC Allah orders everyone to put on their survival shoes these dry suits are waterproof they're made with neoprene a synthetic rubber that contains millions of tiny air bubbles the bubbles act as an insulator and help with buoyancy dry suits provide warmth by protecting the clothing beneath from wind and water without the suit the bitterly cold water of the Atlantic would kill them the last thing I wrote in the logbook on the command bridge was of course that most difficult fact that we are now going to abandon the ship captain rock Allah is now certain the ship and its cargo are doomed he relays the grim news to the ship's owners in Finland name up what then if the last of those boats it that [ __ ] it was pretty difficult with that suit he would hold the phone and I would push the buttons and he would talk it was a strange feeling that this may be the last time and they'd hear from us and again the captain as the cormorant closes in on the Camilla the search and rescue technicians make final preparations tell them everyone's down there we're just on our way we should go [Music] after district I quit [Music] there's now just over an hour of daylight left after flying for three and a half hours Tebow and Mercer catch their first sight of the stranded ship from a distance the situation doesn't look life threatening but as they move in it becomes obvious that this operation will test t-bo's helicopter and crew to the limit sunny Rises fused 300-foot piece of metal is out of control very slowly it's not spinning like a cork it's it's moving basically rolling twisting talking sliding up and down the way as you sunrise this is not a stable platform we have to rescue 16 people [Music] the storm is closing in scientists call this type of storm a meteorological bomb because it is intensifying at such an explosive rate within a few short hours its winds have more than doubled in force from 35 to 75 km/h with its highest waves reaching over 80 feet the height of a seven story building my impression was that these guys were not gonna make it through the night and we had to take them off otherwise that was the end for them major Tebow has a huge challenge he has to figure out how to get as close as possible in order to lower his men onto the moving target but if he flies too low but the cormorant could run into the mast of the tossing ship with deadly results [Music] [Music] [Music] when the helicopter did arrive I was naturally very excited that now we are finally getting out of here this is gonna be tough swing around for another look the jubilation onboard the Camilla doesn't last long but all of a sudden circled the boat and then headed away from us well that is when we all thought hey wait a minute as the wind now gotten so bad that we won't be taken away from here the sailors are certain the helicopter is abandoning them their one and only hope of escape vanishing on the horizon major Tebow circles around to check out potential obstacles and determine his best plan of attack he has precious few seconds to decide if a rescue is feasible [Music] Thibeault must keep the helicopter at a constant equal distance from the ship to achieve this he must make the helicopter rise and fall with the waves to search and rescue technicians will be lowered onto the deck one man will control the guide cable to reduce swaying during the hoisting the other corporal Scott Elliston will hook each sailor to the hoist and ride back up to the helicopter with them one at a time [Music] kind of thinking that it's a big boat it's moving it's dead in the water so it's gonna be a different challenge it's not facing straight into the seas where it's a more controlled situation that we're used to it's rolling differently which means as things move and we're on the hoist there's a potential for us to be you know banged off part of the border or hit or some so you're kind of thinking of how you're gonna do the business and you know sometimes what might go wrong the success or failure of this mission will come down to split-second timing that's where flight engineer Rob bedico plays a crucial role he has the best view of the deck he must tell Tebow when the search-and-rescue technician has landed safely and is ready to begin the hoist as for dito counts down the rhythm of his voice signals how close the hoist is to its target [Music] rescue 911 - Camila over we need you to move here forward to the bow of the ship over proof versus the other we stagger to the front while the boat was going up and down and their survival suits were quite slippery so we had to walk carefully I took the safest route to go across the deck I held onto the railings all the time so that I would not slide back and forth there was stuff Levi uncle I was the first rescuer is now on deck controlling the guide cable it's time for corporal scott Elliston to start is descent you definitely feel vulnerable on the end of the cable whether you're gonna potentially get banged into something or if the helicopter has a malfunction and has to set down on the ground or whatever if it's gonna end up going down you're on the end of the cable attached to the helicopter so you're gonna get dragged along with it so you're definitely exposed when you're on the end of the hook timing here is proof getting it wrong could mean serious injury for Elliston or one of the sailors okay sir must have don't let the younger but I had some notion that the crew must have been a little bit scared since no one had ever been hoisted by a wire into a roaring helicopter and I can understand it well since I myself felt some [ __ ] looking at that in wire how could it possibly carry two men the cable may look flimsy it is less than five millimeters in diameter in fact it can lift more than 800 kilos at a time to maintain an equal distance between the ship and the helicopter Tebow has to constantly increase and decrease power because the power is changing adjustments are required to all the other controls the helicopter is never stable keep in mind that that boat is rocking like a chair like 45 degrees each way and it's moving up and down so you're following that boat to all that motion and then if you don't anticipate properly the boat starts to rise up again and now it's coming towards you so you have to move the airy copter back up [Music] one by one the crew are lifted into the cormorant there are still six sailors left on deck and only enough fuel to hover for another 25 minutes right now major Tebow has another challenge the power demand on the engines is constantly changing to maintain the hovering position the engines are working at 100% capacity now and then strong cross winds blow into the rotors causing problems for Tebow the crosswinds create something called translational lift when that happens the engine doesn't have to work nearly as hard this constant change causes massive vibration and puts enormous physical strain on both the helicopter and tebow well it's very tiring obviously there's a lot of turbulence we're moving a lot it's a it's a very demanding not only mentally but physically scott Elliston prepares the 11th sailor for liftoff 5 remained to be saved Tibo is keeping a close eye on his fuel gauge he's running out of daylight and out of fuel soon there will be no choice but to leave the kamila whether or not there are any sailors left on the ship even for a veteran like Tebow the pressure is huge saying that there's never any emotion would be probably lying there's always emotion let's put it this way if if one of our family member was in there it would probably be impossible to make a reasonable decision so in many ways I believe not knowing the people you're you're helping is probably what allows you to make the right decision because it's always very difficult you have to go step by step very slowly and very safely Theatre State seen on moita I had to be calm we couldn't show that we were scared or in panic because there's always that danger of fear being contagious and now we had so little waiting time left that we needed to take it easy copolymer voluminous Ian wiry layer when it was my turn to go to the cable I already knew what to do I just tried to do what the guy told me when we were going up I remember wondering what's going on in this guy's head we didn't really talk that much on the way up to the helicopter but I wasn't scared at that time anymore because it was obvious they knew what they were doing now Scott we have ten minutes of human the helicopter has been hovering over the thrashing boat for more than an hour the winds are increasing the waves are getting bigger and daylight is beginning to fade now you get the pressure on the radio they're like okay we're yeah you got to get going so and then it starts getting even more pressure now you're rushing even work as now you're down to the wire where you have to get it done the Molly said helicopter is sunny she knows I'm gonna fall on wood when I was in the helicopter I look through this rounded window and I tried to look one last time and I did see it down there floating and it hurt to see it over there rocking alone I had felt like how did we dare to leave it there alone in the dark scene with a storm coming the rescued sailors don't realize that up in the cockpit Tibo and Mercer are now trying to deal with the new danger it's killing us the additional weight of the sailors in the back combined with the demand on the engine in hover mode is causing decay or drooping on the rotors they are actually slowing down last thing when his rotor when you hear the word the warning Lord rotor rotor you know that it's the helicopters run out of power and if you're losing power and and the speed that their order drops you know where you're going you're not flying anymore but this time with us was upon us a storm was coming upon us you getting last couple guys in slowing down of the rotors is critical Tebow can continue with the mission or abort the fate of those remaining on the ship is in his hands he has very little time to decide [Music] just ignore it Tebow takes a chance and ignores the warning captain rock Allah and the two rescuers are still on the deck I notice the winds were picking up it was getting worse that the winds were stronger the boat was rolling more so it definitely became more of a challenge as the mission went on captain reckless has watched his entire crew of 15 ascend to safety after more than an hour on the ship I see bow it's his turn it was to say the least a little bit difficult to run to the hoist guy you had to always watch whether the deck was like this or if it was like this and when the deck was level you had to run and be careful not to start running when the deck was tilting the deck had to be level and then you would go was a local million water book I mean when I was a young boy I naturally was hoping that if and when I went to see that I would never have to abandon ship but that's what happened and of all things on a helicopter my last look at Camilla was when I sat in the doorway of the helicopter just before going in to sit down I thought this is where you'll be left rocking it is a pity that we had to leave but there was no choice Tibo and his team complete the evacuation in 70 minutes the cormorant has just enough fuel to get to st. John's as the helicopter picks up speed the drooping rotors returned to normal but the storm is closing in the sailors settle in for what they hope will be an uneventful journey with daylight fading the flight home will be in total darkness and bitter cold [Music] about to do that 200 feet as well avoid these Edwards might even save some guests that long ago we wouldn't even be flying in these conditions the storm is closing in temperatures are dropping Tibo and Mercer know that there's a real danger of ice building up on the rotors the last thing you want on a helicopter how copters are not designed to fly nice when I was flying army type helicopters you avoided it like the plague you hit a cloud raiser icing you did a 180 you turn back not anymore the cormorant is equipped with special de-icing equipment called a rotor ice protection unit or rip you for short the rip you system transfers heat into the rotors to prevent ice from building up but there is a trade-off de-icing draws a huge amount of power power that has to come from somewhere ice is building rapidly on the rotors the rip u is sucking up power to get rid of it and the cormorant is working to the max to keep its heavy load aloft something's got to give the chopper is using so much power that Mercer's control panels all the instruments he needs for navigation dies now flying at night low level over the ocean in freezing rain and snow and then to lose your instruments it is quite something my signal generators over deal here we go Thibeault transfers the generators from his control panel over to Mercer side of the helicopter essentially I was using now his instruments or his signal generator to provide input into my screens it's one way to get the adrenaline pumping huh it seems to be a cormorant heads for st. John's 477 kilometers away the passengers have no idea what their pilots have been dealing with in the cockpit we never knew a thing about that we couldn't even hear any sign that the helicopter might have had any kind of trouble and I have the feeling that had we known we were truly a thought okay we're going from the frying pan into the fire [Music] 13 hours after the Camila's engine died the cormorant finally touches down in st. John's it's been the longest day of captain Rackham's life [Music] it felt wonderful when the helicopter finally landed at the airport and we were able to walk on dry land so to speak without getting her feet wet it was a really fantastic feeling four major tebow and 103 search and rescue squadron it's all souls saved mission accomplished [Music]

Channel: Wonder

Views: 1,647,650

Rating: 4.6807785 out of 5

Keywords: wonder trapped full episodes, trapped, true story, surviving at sea, trapped full episodes, wonder channel, wonder lost at sea, sea survival, extreme survial, ocean adventure, sailor trapped in storm, Trapped S1 EP2, trapped wonder, wonder trapped at sea, survival stories, survival stories documentary, capsized ship, seas storm, sea storm survival, sinking ship, trapped on a sinking ship, sinking boat, lost at sea

Id: 3xbc-M8xFhQ

Length: 49min 52sec (2992 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 25 2019