Search continues for USS Kitty Hawk
sailor who fell overboard in Arabian Sea
By Wayne Specht, Stars
and Stripes
The search continued Friday for a USS Kitty Hawk sailor who fell from the aircraft
carrier during operations in the Arabian Sea, Navy officials said.
The sailor fell from the aircraft carrier Wednesday afternoon. A search-and-rescue
operation began immediately, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Don Sewell, a Pentagon spokesman.
"We don’t know how long the search is going to continue at this point,"
Sewell said. "But we are still proceeding as though the sailor is alive."
Water temperature is one of the most important factors, said Staff Sgt. Tim Foster, a
survival instructor who teaches survival, evasion, resistance and escape techniques for
Air Force pilots at Misawa Air Base, Japan.
"The body has a hard time maintaining its heat in any water below 85 degrees
Fahrenheit," Foster said. As body temperature drops, hypothermia sets in, he said.
Temperatures in the Arabian Sea are estimated to be between 70 and 80 degrees
Fahrenheit.
A spokesman from Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, where the Kitty Hawk is assigned, said all
sailors learn water-survival techniques.
"Sailors go through a water-survival course in boot camp and are taught the basics
of surviving in the water," Jon Nylander, spokesman for Commander Naval Forces Japan,
said Friday.
Nylander said sailors are taught how to stay afloat, to improvise flotation gear, and
how to conserve heat and energy while in the water.
The Afloat Training Group teaches an advanced swimmer course. It also teaches a course
for search-and-rescue swimmers, he said.
In 1995, a 20-year-old Marine who fell overboard from the USS America used his pants to
make a float and drifted for 36 hours in the Indian Ocean before being rescued by a
Pakistani fisherman.
By swimming or treading water, a person will cool about 35 percent faster than if
remaining still, according to survival information at a U.S. Coast Guard Web site.
It was not known how the sailor fell overboard Wednesday, and Navy officials in
Washington said the sailor was not identified because the family had not yet been
notified.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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