SILVER SPRING, Md.— Discovery Channel premieres a new series SOS: COAST GUARD RESCUE with a special one-hour episode on Sunday, October 9, 10 PM (ET/PT), with exclusive footage of the Coast Guard’s heroics efforts during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The series includes an intense behind the scenes look at the men and women of the Coast Guard and the people they came to the rescue during one of our nation’s most violent natural disasters. Dramatic footage captured by special cameras mounted on boats, helicopters and helmets will bring audiences into the heart of a rescue - on the rescue boats speeding through raging waters, in the helicopters hovering over sinking boats, and down hoists into icy waters to save lives. The series airs in its regular timeslot, Tuesdays at 10 PM (ET/PT) starting October 11.

"SOS: COAST GUARD RESCUE is raw and unfiltered television,” said Discovery Channel General Manager Jane Root. “Discovery Channel’s DEADLIEST CATCH put viewers in raging Alaskan waters with men risking their lives in the search of Alaskan King Crabs. Now SOS: COAST GUARD RESCUE puts viewers in the raging aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as these heroes risk their lives in search of their fellow citizen.”

Three of the series’ 10 episodes will focus on Hurricane Katrina, the others delve into a range of other critical missions that the Coast Guard conducts daily across the country, including boating rescues and U.S. border patrol. Production on the series began six months ago, before America witnessed the Coast Guard heroic efforts Hurricane Katrina disaster relief.

With production crews embedded on search and rescue teams, rigged with special helmet cameras to capture action at Coast Guard boat stations at Cape Disappointment, Wash.; Sand Key, Fla.; and Chatham, Mass.; and air stations at Astoria, Ore.; Cape Cod, Mass.; Clearwater, Fla.; Kodiak, Alaska; and Elizabeth City, N.C.

Inland rescues usually involve 25-foot, 27-foot or 41-foot boats, while HH-60 helicopters serve on both the high seas and inshore. Be it a boat or helicopter mission, episodes follow the central figures — including pilots, flight mechanics and rescue swimmers — who take on a medical emergency in the ocean depths or a shark attack off the coast with equal, lightning-fast aplomb. Each episode features three rescues or missions, in a mix of both helicopter and boat saves, and puts the viewer in the rush and in the midst of the maneuvers responding to each plight. All the missions — wherever and whatever they are — fittingly symbolize the Coast Guard’s motto, Semper Paratus, meaning “Always Ready.”



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SOS: COAST GUARD RESCUE Upcoming Episodes

Episode 1 – OPERATION KATRINA

In the premiere episode, the Cape Cod, Mass., and Clearwater, Fla., Coast Guard air crews rush to the Gulf Coast for an unprecedented rescue operation: the aftermath of the destructive Hurricane Katrina. Pilot John Mixon flies his HH-60 Jayhawk in and out of submerged neighborhoods, searching for people trapped in toxic waters. Once residents are found, veteran rescue swimmer A.J. Thompson — lowered by hoists onto rooftops and into windows — saves them. Never-before-seen footage shows dramatic missions from the vantage point of rescuers who have been outfitted with helmet cameras. This unique, up-close perspective on the Katrina catastrophe spotlights the U.S. Coast Guard crews who, as a team, rescued more than 22,000 people in the aftermath’s first week.

Episode 2 – HURRICANE RESCUE
Rescue operations continue along the Gulf Coast as Coast Guard pilots, rescue swimmers and flight mechanics pulled in from their stations nationwide battle their own fatigue, hunger and physical injury to save as many lives as possible from the flooding and devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. The perilous rescues of babies, the elderly and entire families are captured firsthand by helmet- and hoist- cams, as well as film crews embedded with helicopter crews.

Episode 3 – DEADLY WATERS
In the Pacific Northwest, five fishermen are trapped in a sinking vessel and await help, but the Coast Guard boat station has the wrong coordinates for the location, shifting responsibility to the helicopter team, who may be the fishermen’s only hope for survival. Meanwhile, the Sand Key, Fla., boat crew responds to a call of a man assaulting his girlfriend on a boat at sea. And the Clearwater, Fla., air station team searches for a swimmer who has been lost in a swamp for 15 hours.

Episode 4 – TEENAGE TRAUMA
A 14-year-old boy is severely injured in a boating accident, and Clearwater, Fla., rescue swimmer Jerry Hoover must treat the victim en route to a trauma center. When a surfer is trapped in a dangerous cove, the Astoria, Ore., air station helicopter crew embarks on a search and rescue mission. In Clearwater, Fla., the boat crew launches a night expedition to rescue a man who dove into shallow waters… and now lies immobile in shark-filled water.

Episode 5 – NIGHT DISTRESS
Heavy seas batter a sailboat that has run aground with two men on board, as Elizabeth City, N.C., air station rescue swimmer Mike Ackerman deploys from a helicopter for a risky nighttime rescue. Then, drunken jet skiers create problems for the Sand Key, Fla., boat team, and the Cape Cod air station crew rushes to the aid of a man having a heart attack while on a deep-sea fishing trip.