MARCH 14, 2015
FIRE ISLAND, NEW YORK
One man died when a tugboat sank off the coast of Fire
Island on Saturday, said the Coast Guard, which rescued three other members of
the ship’s crew from frigid ocean waters one mile offshore.
The boat was returning to its home port in New York after
doing some work near Shinnecock Bay in Suffolk County on the eastern tip of
Long Island, said Petty Officer Sabrina Laberdesque, a spokeswoman for the
Coast Guard detachment in New York City. A crew member radioed for help at 2:15
p.m. and said that the boat was taking on water and sinking.
The Coast Guard found three crew members alive in the water
one mile south of Fire Island. The survivors were treated for hypothermia and
brought to a hospital.
The dead crew member was found by the crew of a civilian
tugboat that volunteered to help in the search as “good Samaritans,” Petty
Officer Laberdesque said.
The names of the crew members on the boat that sank were not
publicly released, but The Associated Press, citing Coast Guard officials in
New Haven, reported that the ship was called the Sea Bear. The Coast Guard said
it did not know for certain where the boat sank.
Petty Officer Laberdesque said the civilian ship that found
the dead crew member was one of two boats to respond to an Urgent Marine
Information Broadcast, which she described as the Coast Guard version of the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s public safety notice, “If you see
something, say something.”
“They volunteered their time and their vessels to help us
locate these people in the water,” the petty officer said.
The three survivors withstood the Atlantic Ocean’s low
temperatures in part because they were wearing immersion suits, which can keep
a person warm in cold water for a limited period of time, said Petty Officer
Laberdesque. The suits are a safety
measure that the Coast Guard advises all mariners to keep aboard their ships,
especially in the Northeast.
The Coast Guard initially said it was not clear if the dead
crew member was wearing such a suit.
Later they did confirm that the fourth person did not wear an immersion suit.
Tugboats are compact, powerfully built vessels that are
often used to do heavy lifting in ports and harbors, guiding larger ships to
narrow berths in crowded docks or through tight canals. They are more typically
associated with performing rescue operations than being in need of them.
The Coast Guard said it did not yet know why the boat sank
but that an investigation was underway.
“There are plenty of reasons why a vessel could begin taking
on water,” Petty Officer Laberdesque said. “Maybe they were struck. Maybe it was a
mechanical issue. It may have had to do with the integrity of the hull. Maybe
their bilge pump failed. Right now, we do not know.”
Other officials indicated that stormy weather and heavy fog
may have contributed to the sinking.
Considering how fast the boat sunk, they must have hit or collided with something.