Gusinsky, who was on board the luxury power vessel, had left the Marshalls’ capital of Majuro, for uninhabited Rongelap Atoll to do some pleasure diving and fishing. Fortunately for the family aboard the American yacht “Elsewhere,” Gusinksy’s Blue Star had stopped briefly at Aur Atoll on its way to Rongelap to scuba dive.
While in Aur Atoll Saturday, the crew heard a distress call from the 40-foot American yacht and went to its rescue, according to officials in Majuro who are monitoring the rescue and attempt to salvage the Elsewhere, which is grounded on a reef shelf.
The Blue Star crew rescued Elsewhere’s American owners, cruisers Matt and Judy Johnston and their grandson Tyler, and then called for a rescue vessel to be sent from Majuro through their shipping agents Pacific International Inc. The Johnstons are from Antioch, California.
Pacific International Inc. officials confirmed that their inter-island motor vessel Deborah K left Majuro late Saturday and had arrived in Aur Sunday morning to attempt to move Elsewhere off the reef.
The country’s only government rescue vessel, Sea Patrol’s “Lomor” patrol boat, left the Marshall Islands on Friday, destined for a $3.5 million, six-month overhaul in Townsville, Australia, and was unavailable.
Gusinsky has become a regular visitor to the Marshall Islands in the past few years and has been talking with officials of the Rongelap Atoll Local Government about resort investments and the possibility of setting up a marine science laboratory on Rongelap, an atoll that in 1954 was engulfed with fallout from Bravo, the biggest hydrogen bomb tested by the U.S. government. Rongelap leaders, with U.S. funding, are cleaning up nuclear residue on the main island of the atoll and rebuilding facilities and housing to accommodate a future return by the island’s exiled residents.
Gusinsky is also currently paying for full scholarships for four Rongelap Islanders to attend college in Israel. Gusinsky established the first independent TV channel in Russia RTVi, in 2001.
A preliminary report from Aur Atoll indicated the yacht Elsewhere had sustained heavy damage from rough waves pounding it against the reef for more than 24 hours. The Deborah K crew was assessing the viability of pulling the yacht off the reef Sunday morning.
