Health Care: 4 boaters rescued from sinking vessel off San Pedro

Thursday, August 18, 2011

4 boaters rescued from sinking vessel off San Pedro

Four people who were bobbing in the ocean about six miles off Point Fermin in San Pedro were rescued Thursday afternoon in an operation that relied on quick coordination between private and military vessels, officials said.

The U.S. Coast Guard in San Pedro received a radio call about 4:40 p.m. from a mariner on a boat saying that he saw another vessel taking on water.

"It was sinking fairly quickly," said Coast Guard Lt. Ana Thorsson.

She said the mariner's GPS device had broken but he was able to provide a detailed description, which allowed the Coast Guard to triangulate the position of the distressed boat.

The Coast Guard dispatched a cutter and rescue helicopter, but a Navy inflatable vessel on a training mission reached the sinking 28-foot vessel first to find it partially submerged and the four boaters floating in the water.

"They all had life jackets," Thorsson told The Times. The four boaters were transferred to the Coast Guard cutter and taken back to the Port of Los Angeles.

The 28-foot vessel was towed to the port by a commercial vessel.