BRUNSWICK, Georgia — Maybe you thought the same thing when you hear a cargo ship about the length of two football fields capsized near Brunswick with 24 crew members on board; how is anyone going to survive that? Especially the last four crew trapped inside for over 30 hours.
First Coast News asked Senior Chief Justin Irwin, "When you first got the call, did you think everyone was going to die?"
The answer from the Commanding Officer Coast Guard Station Brunswick: "Absolutely. "
Senior Chief Irwin says the rescue was "amazing." It involved numerous agencies in addition to the U.S. Coast Guard.
Irwin says just finding the four men trapped on the enormous cargo ship took patience and a "miracle." He says 30 to 40 people in boats moved bit-by-bit near the ship and tapped with hammers or similar tools on the bottom of the boat for hours and hours.
They'd tap every 20 minutes to "give hope" to the men inside.
But no taps came back from inside the cargo ship, called the Golden Ray.
Finally, a return tap -- at least one man was alive.
Turns out all four remaining crew members were indeed alive. But their situation, Senior Chief Irwin says, was terrible. "Absolute horror," he says. "It was 140 degrees and pitch black and no food. Pure horror."
He doesn't know which type of tool the men used to tap back to rescue crews.
But it worked.
"We did it," Irwin said. The men were experiencing severe cramping in their hands from "severe dehydration," he says. The third man couldn't walk and was taken out on a stretcher-type device, but they were alive.
One even said in English, "Daylight." All of them were smiling. Big smiles.
"I've been in the Coast Guard 19 years and have never, ever experienced anything like this," Irwin said. He compliments Petty Officer Jeremy Shaw and Seaman Joshua Jones, along with multiple agencies for their skilled rescue work and dedication.
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