A U.S. Coast Guard Station St. Petersburg crew rescued five boaters Dec. 12 after their 32-foot vessel sank 28 miles west of Egmont Key.
The boaters were in stable condition, according to a news release, and safely transported to emergency medical service personnel at Tierra Verde Marina in Pinellas County.
Multiple mayday callouts over VHF-Channel 16 from a boater on a 32-foot vessel taking on water had alerted the Coast Guard that five boaters were donning lifejackets and would have to abandon ship at 3:34 a.m.
An Air Station Clearwater MH-60 Jayhawk aircrew located the boaters in the vicinity of their sunken vessel at 4:19 a.m.
The aircrew deployed a rescue swimmer and vectored the boat crew to the vessel’s location, the release stated.
“The boaters’ quick decision in donning life jackets and issuing a mayday call gave our crews the critical information and best chances of rescuing them,” Ensign Gaige Garrett, an operations unit controller at Sector St. Petersburg command center, stated in the release. “With water temperatures dropping across most of Florida, we urge boaters to dress appropriately for the weather and carry the required safety equipment for their vessel when going out to sea.”
Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg watchstanders maintain a continuous watch while monitoring VHF Channel 16 and direct coordination with partner agencies to deploy Coast Guard assets for search and rescue cases.
The Coast Guard did not identify the boaters.