USCG ALEX HALEY, At Sea - The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley rescued 28-members of the Taiwan-flagged fishing vessel Hou Chun 11, two of which were suffering from significant burns, 900 miles southwest of Honolulu, Feb. 9, after a shipboard fire forced the crew to abandon ship into liferafts in 35 mph winds and 8 to 10 foot seas.
The crew of the Alex Haley is transporting the crew to Christmas Island, Kiribati, where the two injured crewmen will be medevaced by Coast Guard C-130 to advanced medical facilities in Honolulu Wednesday afternoon and the remaining crewmen will board another fishing vessel to return to Taiwan.
Coast Guard Joint Rescue Coordination Center watchstanders received the call here Monday at 7:30 a.m. about a fire aboard the fishing vessel Hou Chun 11 and launched a Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules at 10 a.m. to the vessel's location 900 miles southwest of Honolulu. The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley, homeported in Kodiak, Alaska, and a U.S. Navy P-3 aircrew also responded to the call.