Lifeboat pickup winds up rescue frm burning liner

A Coast Guard cutter rescued 18 passengers and two Air Force crewmen who spent a cold night in a lifeboat on the stormy Gulf of Alaska after abandoning the burning Dutch luxury liner Prinsendam. Rescue ships, planes, and helicopters searched the gulf in rain and 20-foot seas for the lifeboat during successful efforts to rescue more than 500 passengers and crew who abandoned the burning luxury liner. Meanwhile, the blaze that broke out Saturday was still burning 24 hours later. The ultramodern 427-foot ship, while said to be in no immediate danger of sinking, was described by a Coast Guard observer as a "floating hulk."