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North Carolina Coast Guard Unit Featured in Discovery Channel Show

Posted on: Monday, 31 October 2005, 12:00 CST

By Lauren King, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

Oct. 29--It was nearing midnight on Aug. 19 when an emergency call came in from a 32-foot sailing vessel near Hog Island, along the Eastern Shore.

It was taking on water, and soon after the call, the U.S. Coast Guard lost contact with the two men aboard, said Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer Krys Hannum.

She said the Coast Guard launched a helicopter from Elizabeth City Air Station, and the water rescue that followed was recorded by the Discovery Channel for its series "SOS: Coast Guard Rescue."

On Tuesday night, that rescue will be highlighted in the series' fourth episode, which will include stories from crews based in Sand Key, Fla., and Cape Cod, Mass.

The series, which kicked off Oct. 9, initially featured footage from rescues following Hurricane Katrina, but on Tuesday, it will move into more of the Coast Guard's day-to-day work, which includes boating rescues, U.S. border patrol missions and drug interdiction.

Discovery Channel production crews were embedded with boat and helicopter search-and-rescue teams throughout the country for nearly six months to capture the footage.

Each episode typically features three rescues or missions and uses footage from cameras mounted on boats, helicopters and rescuers' helmets.

Tuesday's episode will include footage from Petty Officer 3rd Class Mike Ackermann, a rescue swimmer, during the rescue of two men near Hog Island, said Jill Bondurant, a Discovery Channel spokeswoman.

"The rescue is very intense -- you can even hear the rescue swimmer breathing and see the rescue from his perspective with a camera on his helmet," she said in an e-mail.

Tuesday's episode is the fourth of 10 that will be aired during the season, and Bondurant said that Elizabeth City will be featured again in future shows.

Rescuers from Cape Disappointment, Wash., Sand Key, Fla., and Chatham, Mass., and air stations at Astoria, Ore., Cape Cod, Mass., Clearwater, Fla., and Kodiak, Alaska , also will be featured throughout the season.

"SOS: Coast Guard Rescue" airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on the Discovery Channel.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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L, COX,

Source: The Virginian-Pilot

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