ASTORIA, Ore. — The Coast Guard rescued five people from a life raft late Monday after a fishing boat homeported in Neah Bay sank about 20 miles offshore from the mouth of the Umpqua River.
The captain aboard the 67-foot fishing vessel Desire reported to the Coast Guard in North Bend at about 9 p.m. that the boat was sinking and that the five people aboard were preparing to escape in a life raft.
No serious injuries were reported, the Coast Guard said in a press release. The Coast Guard does not release the names of those they rescue.
About a half-hour after the captain’s report, Coast Guard helicopter crews located the survivors in the life raft and deployed rescue swimmers.
The helicopter crew from Newport rescued three survivors, and the helicopter crew from North Bend rescued two survivors.
Following the successful hoists of all five people from the life raft, the survivors were taken to Air Station North Bend where their care was transferred to awaiting emergency services personnel, the Coast Guard said.
“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.”
Regan added that information transmitted by the boat’s Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) as it sank allowed watchstanders to corroborate details of the choppy radio distress hail and expedite rescue coordination.
Also deployed were 47-foot Motor Lifeboat rescue boatcrews from Coast Guard Stations Siuslaw River and Umpqua River.
