Rescuers Search for Survivors of Air Force Plane Crash at Sea

Rescuers searched Saturday for survivors of the crash of an Air Force Reserve rescue plane that plunged into the icy, shark-infested Pacific Ocean with 11 people on board.

One man was rescued Friday night shortly after the Oregon-based CH-130 Hercules went down about 60 miles west of Cape Mendocino.

Helicopter crews returning to base Saturday morning reported seeing a 40-foot section of one wing and a piece of the plane’s nose. Two bodies were pulled from the 52-degree water after dawn Saturday, leaving eight men unaccounted for.

The crews also reported seeing a number of sharks prowling the area.

“We saw several sharks,” said Coast Guard Lt. Craig Breitung, pilot of the helicopter that found the survivor Friday night.

Cmdr. Kevin Marshall at the McKinleyville Coast Guard station said the survivor, Tech. Sgt. Robert Vogel, 31, of Albany, Ore., was spotted clinging to a seat cushion by a Coast Guard helicopter crew using a powerful searchlight and night vision goggles.

Coast Guard Airman George Cavallo went into the water to help Vogel.

“We put a collar around [Vogel] and then we hoisted both of them up,” Marshall said.

Officials at Mad River Community Hospital in nearby Arcata allowed photographers into the intensive care unit to take pictures of Vogel, who had a bandage on his right arm and cuts on his hands and face.

Although he didn’t speak to reporters, another airman in the room said Vogel had told him, “Thanks to the Coast Guard for rescuing me.”

Rescuers said that Vogel had managed to get into a cold-water survival suit but that it had ripped and filled with water.

Vogel, a senior industrial engineering major at Oregon State University, was in fair condition Saturday, according to Susan Donovan, assistant nursing supervisor.

Marshall said the rescue crew reported that Vogel was suffering from “multiple injuries.” He told rescuers he had not seen any other survivors.

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Vogel called the Coast Guard station from the hospital Saturday morning.

“He was very coherent,” Marshall said. “He sounded very good. He wanted to thank us.”

Several Coast Guard vessels and a Navy destroyer joined the searchers, along with aircraft from several bases.

Rescuers also found three rafts at the crash site, about 200 miles north of San Francisco.

The plane went down shortly after the crew reported that one of its four propeller engines had shut down and they were having trouble with another, said Col. Rick Davis, commander of the 939th Rescue Wing’s 304th Rescue Squadron in Portland, Ore., the plane’s home base.

After that, the crew reported complete electrical failure, he said. Radio contact was lost about 7:30 p.m. and wreckage was found 90 minutes later.

Marshall said the plane was heading to North Island Naval Air Station near San Diego from Portland. The plane was on a training mission, Davis said.