Saturday, May 9, 2015

Coast Guard investigating accident on Saginaw River when a tug and barge hit a boat


In this file photo, a Coast Guard crew from Station Chincoteague, demonstrates the capabilities of the 24-foot Special Purpose Craft - Shallow Water in the Elizabeth River near Portsmouth, Va., Friday, Nov. 21, 2008. The SPC-SW, a new asset intended to operate in areas that other response boats cannot reach, will enhance capabilities for search and rescue, law enforcement, and Homeland Security missions. (U.S. Coast Guard photo/Petty Officer 3rd Class Mark Jones)
CLEVELAND – The Coast Guard is investigating the cause of an accident in the Saginaw River, Friday afternoon.

At 10:30 a.m., a search-and-rescue controller at Coast Guard Sector Detroit received a report of a man clinging to a buoy in the Saginaw River near Veterans Memorial Park in Bay City, Mich.

Rescue crews launched from Coast Guard Station Saginaw River, in Essexville, Mich., in a 24-foot response boat and from Air Station Detroit in a Dolphin rescue helicopter.

Before the Coast Guard arrived on scene the man was rescued by crews from the Zilwaukee, Mich., Fire Department.

The rescued man stated that he and another man were on a boat when they had to jump into the river as a tug and barge hit their boat.

The air temperature is 74 degrees and a water temperature is 56 degrees.

The Coast Guard searched for the second person in the river for three hours by both air and water. The search for the second man has been suspended pending further information.

Only after a probable search area is saturated with the appropriate assets and resources, and persons lost or in distress are still not located, is a decision made to suspend a case.