U.S. Coast Guard photo.
SAN FRANCISCO – The Coast Guard rescue five people from a fishing vessel (Mandy Jane) approximately 14 miles southwest of the Golden Gate Bridge, Wednesday.
At approximately 4:45 p.m., the boat captain of the Mandy Jane fishing vessel issued a mayday call for assistance via VHF-FM channel 16 to Coast Guard Sector San Francisco command center watchstanders after his boat began taking on water with four additional people aboard.
Sector San Francisco dispatched a Coast Guard Station Golden Gate 47-foot Motor Lifeboat crew, the Coast Guard Cutter Sockeye and diverted a Coast Guard Air Station San Francisco MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew to respond.
At approximately 5:10 p.m., the helicopter crew arrived on scene, located the fishing vessel and found that four crewmembers had embarked a survival raft while the captain remained on the fishing vessel. Shortly after the helicopter crew arrived on scene, a San Francisco pilot boat, a tug boat and a good Samaritan vessel arrived on scene to assist with the rescue.
U.S. Coast Guard photo by PA1 Nate Littlejohn.
The Dolphin’s rescue swimmer was lowered from the helicopter and assisted the four passengers and the boat captain from the survival raft on to the 47-foot Motor Lifeboat.
“Emergencies at sea can happen very quickly and are often far from help,» said Capt. Marie Byrd, the Coast Guard Sector San Francisco commander. «The preparation and steadfast thinking of the captain and crew of the Mandy Jane to call for help, don survival suits and deploy their life raft positively saved their lives. We are also grateful for the Good Samaritan, tug and pilots who quickly responded to Mandy Jane’s calls for help. With their quick response, the proactivity of the crew and the efforts of our Coast Guard rescue crews, we were able to safely recover the people from this dangerous situation.”
The Coast Guard would like to remind all mariners, recreational and commercial, to ensure they have the proper safety equipment every time they go out on the water.
-USCG-
