MEC&F Expert Engineers : The Coast Guard rescued two people as their disabled boat began taking on water in Metompkin Inlet near Wachapreague, VA

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

The Coast Guard rescued two people as their disabled boat began taking on water in Metompkin Inlet near Wachapreague, VA


Coast Guard rescues 2 from sinking boat near Wachapreague, Va.
Aug 2nd, 2016 


Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Ryan Brown, an engineer at Station Wachapreague, Virginia, gazes at an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter flying over Metompkin Inlet August 2, 2016. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Ryan Sanchez)

PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The Coast Guard rescued two people as their disabled boat began taking on water in Metompkin Inlet near Wachapreague Tuesday.

Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads received a call forwarded by Eastern Shore of Virginia 911 Dispatch at 10:47 a.m. stating a 15-foot skiff with two people aboard was disabled and taking on water in Metompkin Inlet.

Sector Hampton Roads issued an urgent marine information broadcast at 11:07 a.m. and launched a 24-foot Special Purpose Craft-Shallow Water crew from Coast Guard Station Wachapreague at 11:19 a.m. An MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Station Elizabeth City was already in flight in the area and changed course to the sinking boat at 11:18 a.m. Both the SPC-SW boat crew and the Jayhawk helicopter crew arrived on scene around 11:50 a.m.

Upon arriving, the Station Wachapreague crew transferred the two distressed boaters onto the SPC-SW. Both people were wearing life jackets.

The Jayhawk helicopter crew passed a dewatering pump to the SPC-SW crew, who then worked to dewater the sinking boat.

The SPC-SW crew towed the boat back to Station Wachapreague, arriving at 2:36 p.m.

No injuries were reported.

“The spirit of cooperation is how we accomplish things like this,” said Lt. Wryan Webb, a pilot of the Jayhawk crew. “If we have multiple units working together, we are able to give a more complete response during a mission.”