BBC Crew Rescued North of West Fjords: Video

The Icelandic Coast Guard helicopter hoisted  five people on board yesterday afternoon, after a passenger boat they were in began leaking and lost power north of Hornstrandir, the West Fjords, Morgunblaðið reports.

As it turns out, most of the passengers were members of a film crew from the BBC, working on a film about wildlife. In addition, a crew of two was on board the boat. They remained on board the boat. No one was injured.

After ICE-SAR (the Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue) was notified of the power failure at about 4 pm, two rescue boats were sent to the scene, in addition to the Icelandic Coast Guard helicopter. The first vessel to the scene was the fishing boat Otur, which took the boat in tow about an hour after the trouble was reported.

Subsequently, the passengers were hoisted on board the helicopter and sea water pumps installed in the leaking boat. The rescue boat Gísli Jónsson then towed the boat to Ísafjarðardjúp fjord. The helicopter safely landed with the passengers on board at about 7:30 pm.

First assessments suggest that the boat collided with debris, mbl.is reports. According to Nanny Arna Guðmundsdóttir, managing director of Skútusiglingar ehf. – the company that owns the boat – a propeller blade broke, and there are signs something scraped the bottom of the boat and landed in the propeller blade. The propeller shaft suffered a blow, and coolant leaked into it, preventing the system from pumping sea water. The hull, however, was not punctured.

We invite you to watch this video from the scene: