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Russian Ship Rescues 4 From Missing U.S. Plane
Three Japanese passengers and the American pilot of a missing private U.S. jet were rescued unharmed early Monday by a Russian freighter in waters east of Sakhalin, the Japan Coast Guard said.
The coast guard said it received a report from the Russian government that the four, who had left Hakodate airport in southern Hokkaido on Sunday in the plane bound for Magadan in Russia's Far East, were rescued by the ship.
The Russian Ministry of Civil Defense, Emergencies and Cleanup Operations quoted the captain of the freighter, the Artist Roerich, as saying the four were in a lifeboat when the Russian ship found them at around 3:35 a.m. Monday Japan time. It said they will be taken to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in Sakhalin by helicopter.
The three Japanese are members of the AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) Japan. They were on their way to the U.S. state of Idaho via Russia to return the Pilatus PC-12 plane in which AOPA Japan members completed an around-the-world trip between early June and last Thursday, AOPA Japan said.
Yamagata telephoned Kozo Takita, president of AOPA Japan, to say that he and the three others are well. He said the plane's engine had stalled after a fuel pipe froze.
The plane took off from Hakodate airport at around 9:12 a.m. Sunday and was scheduled to arrive in Magadan at around 3:10 p.m. the same day.
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