for word about his daughter, 20-year-old Anna Sprague.

Larry Sprague said he was first notified something was wrong at 7:30 a.m. when he received a call at his home in Savannah, Georgia. At 10 a.m., he answered the phone and heard his daughter's voice.

"She was just real reluctant or unable to talk extensively when we first communicated right after she got off the helicopter, which is sort of unlike her," he said.

Sprague told CBC News Anna Sprague had just left the rescue helicopter when she called home. Her father said some of the details are still unclear.

"What she did tell me is that they had prepared to abandon ship," he said, adding that the entire crew put on their survival suits.

"The ship took an unexpected roll. I thought whatshe told me was that everybody had been dumped into the water. She had to swim toward the life-raft. It's still not inflated, and I was unclear if she was kind of hanging on to the line, or part of the life-raft until it inflates."

Sprague said his daughter is doing well, and her mother has gone to bring her home.