The Coast Guard rescued five people from a life raft late Monday after a fishing boat sank approximately 20 miles offshore from the mouth of the Umpqua River near Reedsport and Winchester Bay, Oregon.
The captain of the 67-foot fishing vessel radioed the Coast Guard in North Bend around 9 p.m. to report that his boat was taking on water.
He also reported the five people aboard were preparing to abandon ship into a life raft.
The boat’s registered emergency beacon was activated by contact with water, and the vessel’s location and owner information was transmitted to the Coast Guard’s 13th District Command Center in Seattle. Coast Guard rescue helicopters from Newport and North Bend located the life raft, and deployed rescue swimmers to transfer the survivors into the aircraft.
“The fishing boat’s crew all had survival suits, properly deployed their survival raft, and shot two flares to assist us in locating them,” said Lt. Conor Regan, a helicopter pilot from Coast Guard Air Station North Bend. “Their overall preparation serves as an example for other mariners, as it was fundamental to the positive outcome of their potentially life-threatening situation.”
No one was seriously injured.
