Canada's coast guard rescued 27 people Friday who spent a day in an enclosed boat being tossed about by gale-force winds and 15-foot Atlantic waves after their oil rig capsized.
"They appear to be in relatively good shape," said spokesman Dick Pepper.He said the 25 men and two women workers from the Rowan Gorilla I oil rig were taken from the survival capsule to the tugboat Smit London in a motorized rubber raft after stormy seas calmed enough to permit a rescue.
The exhausted, seasick people spent nearly 24 hours in the capsule buffeted by gale-force winds and 15-foot waves.
The offshore rig Rowan Gorilla I overturned Thursday about 1,200 miles east of New York City. The coast guard said there were 40-foot waves in the area then.
The Rescue Coordination Center at Halifax, more than 600 miles to the northwest, organized the rescue.
Maj. Glen Urquhart said they rescued 25 Canadians, one American and a Dutch crew member.
The crew members entered the survival pod about noon Thursday, before the rig overturned, said Milligan. It was not immediately clear what had happened to the rig, owned by the Rowan Co. Inc. of Houston, which was last sighted Thursday.