Sergey Ananov rescued from Davis Strait Print

Sergey AnanovRussian helicopter pilot Sergey Ananov is a lucky man.  He was on a trip around the world in his Robinson R-22, when a belt failure brought him down in cold, icy Davis Strait, between the east coast of Baffin Island and Greenland, as shown on this SPOT tracking capture.

Ananov was seen at the Iqaluit airport refueling the R-22 on Friday, July 24, 2015. He set off from CYFB for Greenland on Saturday, July 25.  When the R-22 went down as he was crossing Davis Strait, he was able to grab his life-raft and flare gun. He was wearing his survival suit, but didn't have it fully zipped up, resulting in him getting wet when he went into the water.  He managed to swim to an ice floe as the R-22 sank, where he spent a couple of cold nights, scaring off polar bears.  He was found by the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Pierre Radisson.

 

 

Sergey Ananoy refuelingAnanov experienced some frostbite, but was otherwise was uninjured in the crash. The CCGS Pierre Radisson took him to Iqaluit. He told Russia 24 how he was feeling when he returned to Iqaluit: "With regard to mental health, it is good. Here (in Iqaluit, Canada) I was literally bathed in the waves of love and friendship." He was able to take a commercial flight to Ottawa to pick up a new passport from the Russian Embassy there, and head back home to Moscow.

For more, CBC News has extensive coverage here.  in English. In Russian, here's the coverage of his return to Moscow on Russia 24. The Russian news agency TASS called the rescue a good example of Russian-Canadian co-operation in the Arctic.

 

Last Updated on Saturday, 01 August 2015 14:16