Men stranded 5 days at sea off Florence get towed to shore
EUGENE, Ore. - 911 operators in Eugene alerted the Coast Guard that a woman in Astoria got a text from family aboard a boat adrift off the coast of Oregon, launching a week-long effort to locate the men and return them to shore.
Earlier report
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Two fishermen who spent five days lost at sea after their boat lost power off the Oregon coast are safely back ashore.
Coast Guard officials said Friday they towed the 40-foot fishing vessel to Florence, about 135 miles south of where it was reported adrift.
A search began Monday when a woman told authorities she'd gotten a text message from her son and grandson saying they were adrift near Astoria.
Officials did not immediately identify the two tuna fishermen.
On Friday, the Coast Guard said it made radio contact with the men and sent a motor lifeboat their way. The Coast Guard said in a statement the fishermen were in good health.
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Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
Press release from the US Coast Guard
The Coast Guard located the crew of an Astoria-based fishing boat Friday, July 11, 2011, after the vessel was adrift at sea for five days.
The two men aboard the 40-foot fishing vessel Dahlia were fishing when the boat's battery died Monday.
911 dispatchers in Eugene, Ore., contacted Coast Guard Sector Columbia River after a woman called to report her son and grandson sent her a text message stating they were aboard the disabled fishing vessel and adrift 35 miles from Astoria.
With no other information to go on and several attempts to reach the vessel via radio transmission, the Coast Guard launched a HC-130J Hercules search plane crew from Sacramento, Calif., to locate the vessel. The C-130 crew searched an area of approximately 10,000 square miles throughout the Thursday evening. An HH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Group/Air Station North Bend, Ore., an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Astoria and the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Fir joined the search Friday morning.
Coast Guard Group/Air Station North Bend made contact with the men aboard the Dahlia via radio channel 22 at approximately 8 a.m., and dispatched a helicopter crew to the scene with a portable radio for the men to use. Meanwhile, a 47-foot motor lifeboat crew from Station Siuslaw River, in Florence, Ore., was sent to the disabled vessel. Once on scene, the motor lifeboat crew put the Dahlia under tow and returned to Florence.
Neither man was injured and both were in good health.
Earlier report
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Two men are reportedly in good condition after spending five days on the ocean when their boat lost power.
The Oregonian reports the men, who were not identified by the U.S. Coast Guard, were in the waters off Florence on Friday morning, waiting for a motor lifeboat to tow them back to shore.
The Coast Guard also sent a helicopter to pin down the boat's exact location.
The men sent a text message to a friend or relative on Monday, reporting that their boat lost power 35 nautical miles from Astoria. That set off a three-day search of the area that found nothing.
On Friday morning, the men contacted a Coast Guard station.
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Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
