Good Samaritans save lives of sinking tug's crew near Long Island

摘要

With heavy fog, six-foot seas on the Atlantic Ocean off western Long Island and night approaching, the mayday call on Jan. 15 did not come at a good time. Bjoern Kils, captain of the New York Media Boat, a 24-foot RHIB photography and sightseeing vessel, had just left the dock and was heading out of East Rockaway Inlet when the radio came alive with the distress call from a tugboat. "I heard the VHF call: 'Mayday. This is the Sea Lion. We're sinking with men in the water. The water is in the wheelhouse. This is our last transmission. We're going down.'" A nearby Sandy Hook Pilots boat heard it too, and the crews on both vessels jumped into action.