This is just a brief diary, but is meant as a thank you to all those brave people who go to work each day, unsung, but who do their jobs admirably when emergencies arise.
Watching the rescues on the Hudson from the emergency landing of US Airways plane, brought back many memories for me, as a New Yorker.
It is bone-numbingly cold here, and even colder on the icy Hudson River.
AP had this story:
Response to emergency landing has heroic results
NEW YORK — As the US Airways plane hit the frigid waters of the Hudson River, emergency crews were already headed to the scene. And the swift, dramatic response had an amazing result: All the 155 people aboard were pulled to safety.
We do not know the names yet, of all those brave NY'ers and Jersyians who rushed to the rescue, and will more than likely not remember them even when they are printed. But in times of crisis, it is folks like these who do their jobs and risk their lives to save others.
Brittany Catanzaro, captain of the Thomas Kean, pulled 24 people aboard with her crew. Meanwhile, detectives John McKenna and James Coll – members of an elite emergency police team – commandeered a sightseeing ferry at 42nd Street and headed to scene. As the vessel arrived at the sinking fuselage, Sgt. Michael McGuinness and Detective Sean Mulcahy tied ropes around themselves that were also tied to their colleagues. They stayed on board as McKenna and Coll entered the plane to rescue four other passengers still inside.
Firefighters responded by boat and collected other passengers. They also anchored the plane with ropes to keep it from sinking or drifting away with the current.
High above, divers Michael Delaney and Robert Rodriguez of the New York Police Department dropped from a helicopter into the water. From the air, Delaney said, "it all looked very orderly. The plane's crew appeared to do a great job." Both divers spotted a woman in the water, hanging onto the side of a ferry boat and "frightened out of her mind," Rodriguez said. "She's very lethargic." "I see panic out of this woman," Rodriguez said. "She's very cold, so she's unable to climb up."
What could have been a great tragedy, for the passengers, crew, and their families was averted by the actions of many.
Thank you.