A merchant vessel that pulled into New Haven, Connecticut, this week is being honored by the U.S. Coast Guard for rescuing 19 fishermen from a boat that caught fire in the Atlantic Ocean, 900 miles southeast of Bermuda.
The ship, K. Coral, spotted a plume of black smoke one day last week and when it pulled closer, the crew found the boat engulfed in flames and the sailors in the water.
Seventeen fishermen were hoisted aboard the vessel. Two others drifted away while clinging to wreckage. Lookouts searched for several hours through nightfall and heavy wind and rain before the crew pulled them both to safety.
Park Hyog Soo, the South Korean captain of the Panama-flagged K. Coral, provided a minute-by-minute account of the rescue effort in dispatches to the Coast Guard and Bermuda authorities.
