On November 28 the whole world was delighted at Prince William’s heroic deed. Second in line to ascend the British throne, the prince rescued two Russian sailors from a cargo ship Swanland during his six-week service in the Royal Air Force (RAF). The ship that was operated by a crew of eight, carried about three tons of limestone and was going from the Irish Sea to the Llyn Peninsula that is a part of northern Wales. However, the rough sea broke the ship in half. Mayday call was received at 2 a.m., right during the prince’s shift. Rescue boats and two helicopters were sent to the site of the shipwreck. “One of the pilots was the Duke of Cambridge. While Prince William and his colleague were co-piloting the aircraft, other crew member went down a rope to raise the sailors who had escaped the sinking ship on a lifeboat,” read the British Ministry of Defense statement. The rescue operation lasted more than 10 hours – that is how long the prince was there, and then he returned to the base. During this time his crew managed to find another sailor – Leonid Supanov, but the man was already dead. “This was outstanding work from the RAF Valley helicopter Rescue 122 given the conditions. The crew definitely saved the lives of two men,” said Ray Carson, watch manager of British coast guard in Hollyhead (northern Wales). And according to the Ministry of Defense spokesperson, the weather conditions were very poor, with limited visibility and strong wind. But the destiny of five more sailors remains still unknown. However, the Brits are determined to go on with the search operation, despite the fact that it is almost impossible for a human to survive in the water at a temperature of 13 degrees for more than six hours.
The Ambassador of Russia to the United Kingdom Aleksandr Yakovenko thanked the prince and his colleagues for saving Russian citizens. “We were monitoring the search and rescue operation from the sunken ship Swanland all day long. We know that you took an active part in this operation and helped two sailors under extreme weather conditions. Let me express our deep gratitude to you and your colleagues for saving human lives,” said Yakovenko. The rescued Roman Savin as saying and Vitalii Kornenko had no idea that they were saved by the prince. “Roma did not care about the rescue team at that time,” quotes Komsomolskaya Pravda the brother of one of the rescued sailors, Aleksey Savin, as saying. “He was in a state of shock, because his friends, members of his crew could have perished. My brother did not know that Prince William was operating the helicopter, so he did not tell me anything.” But as soon as Aleksey surfed the web, he found out that his brother had been saved by the prince. “And the whole world is talking about it,” adds Aleksey.
“Lieutenant Wales” – this nickname was given to Prince William when he started the rescue pilot career at the RAF a year ago. The whole Britain watches his work, and according to many observers, this operation will considerably “promote” William.
And the Russian press needs to consider the prince’s deed in a way that will relax the tension between London and Moscow. Besides, there is more behind this. The sailors were rescued by the prince, who, according to British conventions, has to serve in the army instead of hiding behind the backs of his influential family. His brother, Prince Harry, is no exception. However, he was forced to quit service in Afghanistan because of Taliban’s threats that emerged after media had disclosed the prince’s place of service. Curiously, British journalists had agreed not to bring to public attention the things that were unknown to Australian media.
Ukraine is not a monarchy, so we do not have anything similar to boast of. But the matter is totally different, since usually Ukrainian VIPs are trying hard to hide the details of their children’s lives. One of the examples of this is the information concerning the fees former president Yushchenko pays for the education of his children, disclosed live on Channel 5 by Ihor Slisarenko. This was followed by a phone call. And the call was followed by firing Slisarenko. And it is just the beginning. A recent event can be nominated for The Scandal of the Year: Roman Landyk, son of the member of the Party of Regions Volodymyr Landyk, beat up a girl. This was recorded on cameras and seen by several eye-witnesses. Despite the wide publicity, the case was turned upside down. Amazingly, now the girl is being blamed for what happened! And the father, who brought up (some upbringing, indeed!) such a distinguished young man, even attacks the journalists.
And we cannot leave out numerous instances of road accidents caused by the golden youth. Recently a road police officer was hit by a car. Before that a young mother and her children were run over.
It is saddening that all adventures of the golden youth have a happy end for them, and those who get hurt automatically become victims to Ukraine’s corruption and imperfect judicial system.
