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Subscribe to RSSHOUSTON - The Coast Guard searched Monday for six people reported missing after a fishing vessel started sinking in the Gulf of Mexico near Galveston, Texas.
The Coast Guard received a mayday call on Sunday afternoon from the captain, who reported the boat was taking on water. The captain said the six people aboard were abandoning ship and getting into an orange life raft.
Because of the poor quality of the radio transmission, the name of the vessel was difficult to make out. It sounded like either Scallywag or Skylark, Coast Guard officials said. The boat was described as a purple-and-blue-colored fishing vessel with a white stripe.
Multiple Coast Guard units responded, and on Monday were searching an area roughly the size of Delaware.
"The Coast Guard is expending all available resources to try and locate the six missing people," Elvie Damaso, a Coast Guard command center controller for Sector Houston-Galveston, said in a statement.
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Let's hope they are found . Go Coast Guard. Remember when boating or fishing, have all your safety gear on board. The life you save may be your own
I hope they are found safe and return to their families.
Hope they find them.....that's a pretty large area to be looking
EPIRBs for all life vests and life rafts. Charged handheld floating marine band radios and GPS devices in the abandon ship bag and the life-raft. If these fishermen have this gear and are using it, rescue should be within 48 hours from the time the EPIRB first starts signaling.
Right on David, EPIRBs save lives. Go Coast Guard!!
Newer VHS radios have a panic button that is rigged to your GPS that, when triggered, automatically sends out your GPS coordinates. Also, always leave someone a plan of your trim saying where you plan to go and what time you plan on returning.
Being a captain, and having lost many friends to the seas over the years this story hits home......hope they find them well. Agree with davidhoffman......make it mandatory that all life vests and rafts are outfitted with epirbs for commercial vehicles.
I can't see why it should take 48 hrs to rescue someone if they have EPIRBs. 48 Hrs in the ocean can be a death sentence.
A USCG or US Customs and Border Patrol airplane may be able to locate you and fly over you location. It may even drop additional supplies. But it cannot land on the water to pick you up. You may be too far out for the non air to air refuelable helicopters. Either a USAF air refuelable helicopter and KC-130 mission must be planned and launched OR a USCG cutter must travel to your location.
Goldiefisher.
Sounds great, but I suspect goes out the poop-shoot if a captain finds his catch won't even cover the cost of fuel. A fishing vessel is going to fish, not sightsee. It will first go to a starting point and range out from there, not follow some preset plan.
Sarg,
Even the Gulf is a pretty big place to look for something smaller than a one-car garage, or "Big Ammerican car with taill-fins". Search planes and helicopters have been known to fly right over radio transponder equpped rafts in crowded areas like the Gulf (lots of radio traffic, not all legal). Instead of bitching, why don't you join in this:
Oh heavenly God who created the sea, and gave man the gift to fashion ships to travel upon it and harvest its riches; grant these men a safe and speedy return to their home and loved ones.
Being an avid boater, diver, and fisherman the distress call was chilling. Pray for a safe return of these men to their families.
Well. being able to get in a life raft is encouraging and the bright orange color should help alot. May be a night out there but they should get them in the morning.......
I'd swear the name of the boat from the you tube video was "Sky-Lite",
Hopefully the Coast guard figures that 1 out. It was clear as day when I listened to the Mayday tape.
I pray they all make a safe return home asap.
I really hope this is another one of those fake may-days sent from someone on land thinking they are funny (though I doubt it). It happens here all the time. I hope they are all found safe and well, and were able to grab some supplies before they abandoned ship.
I would hope that someone onshore would have reported them missing by now, and perhaps given information as to where they might be expected to have been when abandoning ship. I hope the water is warm where they were, but hypothermia can occur at relatively warm temperatures. Hope they find them soon.