capsized crew rescued by airboat
posted: 2 June 2014
by: Cole Waterman
ESSEXVILLE, MI — Four boaters adrift in the Saginaw Bay avoided a dour fate thanks to the efforts of a good Samaritan and the U.S. Coast Guard.
About 7 p.m. on Sunday, June 1, a civilian sent a mayday call after he came across four people clinging to an overturned boat in the bay. A 24-foot air boat and crew from the Coast Guard Station Saginaw River in Essexville was already on its way and arrived at the scene at about 7:10 p.m.
Rescue boats are docked at the Coast Guard Station Saginaw River in Essexville. The Coast Guard used a 24-foot airboat on Sunday, June 1, to rescue four boaters from Saginaw Bay after their vessel capsized.
When the boat crew arrived, the owner of the overturned boat was aboard the civilian’s vessel boat, while the other three were atop the overturned boat. The civilian had given life jackets to all four boaters, the Coast Guard reports.
Once on scene, the Coast Guard crew pulled the three remaining boaters into the rescue boat and took them to the Essexville station. The Coast Guard had Towboat US salvage the overturned ship and towed it a local marina.
No injuries, medical concerns or pollution were reported from the incident.
“We recommend all boaters wear life jackets at all times while on the water,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Don Hamilton, coxswain of the rescue boat. “The boaters we rescued told us they had life jackets aboard the boat but did not have time to grab them and put them on before they flipped. Although these boaters weren’t wearing life jackets they did the right thing by staying with the boat and climbing mostly out of the water. They were also lucky that another boater helped them out by calling us and lending them life jackets.”
The rescued boaters’ names are not being released by the Coast Guard.
