Laura Gooth News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

For a free quote today,call liberty mutual insurance at see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. commercial fishing is one of america's most dangerous jobs. >> we've got boats that go down. we've got fishermen that fall overboard. >> and the most dangerous type of fishing is crab fishing. the reason? the best season for crab is during the worst weather. >> they're pitting themselves against mother nature. mother nature wins sometimes. >> lieutenant commander laura gooth is a helicopter rescue pilot for the coast guard stationed in alaska.

And she sees a lot of action in one of the most brutal places on earth -- the bering sea. on this day, the alaskan monarch, a 96-foot schooner, is filled with 100,000 pounds of snow crab, and it's stuck in the ice just off the coast of st. paul island, smack in the middle of the bering sea. and when the boat's rudder snaps off, the four men on board are in trouble. >> i got a phone call that said, hey, we've got a fishing vessel that's trapped in the ice in st. paul, and we need you to go up there. >> gooth and her crew will have to fly 600 miles to get to the ship, which will take them six ho...

Between the "monarch" and the coast guard ship. with a steady hand she holds her position, and the crew drops their rescue basket down to the engineer. >> i have never seen anybody get in a basket that fast. he wanted out of there real bad. >> now it's the skipper's turn, if they can get him. >> at this point, you can just barely see the captain. we're getting the basket down to him. and this is where the flight mech told me he's got the basket but he's got a chunk of ice on top of him. >> hanson has been in the water more than two minutes now, and even with a survival suit on, with the weight...

He is, as laura gooth expects, hypothermic. he also has a cracked rib, and bruises cover his body from the pounding he's taken from the ice and the rocks. but he's thankful to be alive. >> it's wonderful to know that there's people like that out there when you're -- when they're needed. it gives you a good feeling. >> i was just doing my job. i know that sounds trite. but the fact is that's what we do. we take a great deal of pride not only in us as pilots but also our crew being able to pull off the impossible. >> soon after that amazing rescue, laura gooth got a letter from "the alaska monar...

>> we hear the captain from the "monarch" telling them we're coming close to the rocks, we're putting our survival suits on. when we heard them say, "survival suits on," that keyed us to say, this is not a salvage anymore, boys, we'd better be ready for a rescue. >> by the time laura gooth maneuvers her chopper over the bow of the "monarch," four crewmen are ready to leave the ship. while the crew's being rescued, captain morris hanson and his engineer decide to stay aboard and wait it out. the captain is reluctant to leave his ship. >> he said that he wanted to try one more time. he wanted to...