THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 14, 1995 TAG: 9509140342
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
Crewmen from the Norfolk-based frigate Nicholas rescued 16 people who had been adrift on a raft in the Adriatic Sea after their vessel was sunk, apparently in a collision with a passing ferry the day before.
The Nicholas, assigned to NATO's Standing Naval Force Atlantic, was about to begin underway refueling from a Portuguese oiler on Monday when a lookout spotted a small raft carrying one man about a mile away, according to officials with the Atlantic Fleet Surface Force in Norfolk.
After the Nicholas lowered its small boat to rescue the man, 13 more victims were discovered clinging to the sinking raft.
A rescue helicopter from the Nicholas, along with a helicopter from a nearby Dutch frigate, were launched and recovered three more victims. Three bodies were recovered.
The victims were taken aboard the Nicholas and immediately taken to sick bay and the mess decks for treatment.
The first man who was found, an Albanian, ``was in critical condition, severely burned and close to total exhaustion,'' said Lt. Cmdr. Mike Tooker, the officer in charge of the Nicholas' helicopter detachment.
A medical team from the Portuguese frigate Alvares Cabral also came to the Nicholas, which then made a high-speed run to Brindisi, Italy, where the survivors, including a woman and her 4-year-old daughter, were turned over to medical teams and Italian authorities.
The initial accident apparently occurred Sept. 10 when 24 Albanians and five Italians were aboard a motor vessel that left Vlores, Albania. After leaving the harbor, their boat was either hit, or swamped, by a passing ferry, the Navy said. It was not known whether any more than the 19 accounted for by the Nicholas were ever found.
The Nicholas is commanded by Neil C. Burlingame, of Cranston, R.I. It left Norfolk June 15 for the Mediterranean Sea for a six-month deployment with the NATO standing force.
``We all feel very good that we happened upon those poor people and that we were able to get them quickly on board and start medical treatment,'' said Burlingame. ``It was a terrific response by all hands and by all the ships and helicopters assisting.''
The Nicholas has a crew of 221 and has been operating in the Adriatic in support of Operation Sharp Guard, the operation providing surveillance around Bosnia-Herzegovina. by CNB