Air armada rescues 23 aboard listing cargo ship
Anchorage, Alaska – Rescuers from the Coast Guard and Alaska Air National Guard early today saved 23 crew members from an Asian cargo ship taking on water south of the Aleutian Islands.
“People are out of harm’s way; they are rescued and they are safe,” said Alaska National Guard spokesman Maj. Mike Haller.
All 23 crew members were hoisted into two National Guard Pave Hawk helicopters and a Coast Guard helicopter and taken to Adak Island in the Aleutians, 230 miles to the north of the Cougar Ace.
The rescue was conducted in “very challenging weather,” said Master Sgt. Sal Provenzano with the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center. There were 10-foot seas whipping the ship, which had listed nearly on its side.
A nearby merchant marine vessel was standing by to take any crew member who couldn’t fit on the three helicopters, but rescuers decided against conducting more hoist operations to lower the crew members onto the ship in poor weather.
“We made the decision to cram in everybody,” Provenzano said.
One crew member with a broken ankle was to be flown by plane to Anchorage immediately after landing in Adak, Provenzano said. There were no other injuries reported.
The Cougar Ace began listing in the turbulent Pacific Ocean late Sunday night, when the crew sent out an SOS.
CHEYENNE
Gray wolf to stay protected in Wyo.
The federal government on Monday denied a petition from Wyoming that sought the removal of gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains from the federal list of threatened and endangered species.
The state last year asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to establish a distinct population for the wolf in the northern Rockies and take that population off the endangered list. It wants to classify wolves as predators, allowing their unregulated killing in some areas.
The agency said it couldn’t go along until Wyoming approves “a wolf management plan that regulates and limits the human take of wolves” and commits to maintaining a minimum population.
SALT LAKE CITY
Missing girl’s body found at neighbor’s
Officers have found the body of missing 5-year-old Destiny Norton in the basement of a home in her neighborhood and have arrested the man living there, police Chief Chris Burbank announced.
The body was found at 8:30 p.m. Monday, Burbank said.
The man being held for investigation of homicide was identified as Craig R. Gregerson, whose property abutted the backyard of the Nortons. Gregerson, 20, had a previous arrest for a domestic dispute, KTVX reported.
“This is just devastating,” said Zach Willner, who also lived in the house with the Nortons.
Destiny disappeared July 16 from outside her house.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
U.S. urges restraint in nuclear program
The Bush administration urged Pakistan not to expand its nuclear weapons program Monday after a U.S. think tank said Islamabad was building a reactor that could generate plutonium for up to 50 atomic bombs a year.
The Foreign Ministry did not deny the report by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, which said Pakistan was expanding its atomic arms capabilities.
BRUSSELS, Belgium
EU tightens rules for stem-cell research
The European Union decided Monday to continue funding human embryonic stem-cell research, although new rules adopted by the 25-nation bloc prevent human cloning and destroying embryos.
