Marooned Among the Polar Bears

March 5, 2017 10:03 PM

And it is then, fifteen minutes since the belt snapped, as he stands on the ice floe in nothing but his running shoes and underwear, that the situation becomes clear. Sergey Ananov is trapped on a slab of ice in the Arctic Circle. He has no locator beacon, no phone, and barely any water. The fog will hide him from any rescuers. Night will come. Hypothermia will come. And whatever large, powerful creatures that scratch out their existence in this primordial world—maybe they will come too.
posted by Chrysostom (5 comments total)

I read the whole thing. This is amazing. I'm glad he survived. No matter what situation you're in, and no matter how you got there, you deserve search and rescue.

However, when he says, via BBC, Sergey Ananov: Two days on ice with three polar bears...

But if I did survive, I would have a few ideas to contribute to the science of search and rescue. Ideas such as:

•Send helicopters, not planes, to look for survivors

•Make survival suits that you can actually fly in

•Attach mini radio beacons to the suits or life rafts

I didn't get any sleep that night. I did close my eyes but I did not sleep. I commanded myself not to sleep so that I wouldn't miss any approaching bears. To my surprise, I made it through to the morning.

This was a vanity project for him, and, from the link in the FPP:

Halifax dispatches two C-130 Hercules aircraft to the pilot's last known position. But it is too late in the day for a thorough search. Halifax also radios the Pierre Radisson, a 323-foot Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker commanded by Captain Stéphane Julien. Though here too, a snag. The vessel is at least a day away, in Frobisher Bay, escorting a freighter into Iqaluit. With no other icebreakers in the area, Captain Julien cannot abandon his charge.

[...]

Captain Julien calls Halifax to convey the suddenly favorable conditions, but their planes are more than two hundred miles away in Iqaluit and won't be heading out again until morning. There is one hour of light left. Again acting on a hunch, Julien orders a GC-366 helicopter with two observers into the air. Back on the bridge, a third lieutenant spots a red light on the ice surface.

Julien takes a compass bearing and steers toward the point. The rescue helicopter is notified. They spot the final splinter of light from Ananov's last flare. They spot Ananov. There are no bears on the floe but he is once more running and waving and screaming.

That night aboard the Pierre Radisson, thirty-six hours after the R22 hit the ocean, the pilot is fed salad with olive oil and freshly smoked salmon. Everyone wants to shake his hand and take a photo. He obliges, even though this is not anything like the adulation he was looking for. This is not how he wants his name to live on. This is an insufficient immortality.

They did come to your rescue. What's the problem, son?

Sorry your vanity project didn't get as far as it could.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:34 PM on March 5, 2017

They did come to your rescue. What's the problem, son?

The issue is if he'd been able to use an emergency beacon, his rescue would have been 6-8 hours of waiting for the single helicopter to pick him up from his beacon location vs. the multiple heavy aircraft and ship, involving dozens of personnel for almost two days, only finding him in time because the fog broke and the captain's decision to disregard the recommended search area.

Yeah, it's a vanity project, but I don't begrudge the guy for not wanting to die.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 9:33 AM on March 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Hey, I chased off three polar bears last night, too. Of course, I had a little help from my wife, Morgan Fairchild.
posted by ftm at 9:48 AM on March 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

This is beautifully written. Thanks for sharing, Chrysostom.
posted by 2soxy4mypuppet at 1:52 PM on March 6, 2017

Terrifying. It makes me wonder if I would survive something like that. I think probably not.
posted by unliteral at 4:19 PM on March 6, 2017