Boat was sinking fast off Cape Fear when a Good Samaritan, Coast Guard got an alert

Joe Marusak
·1 min read

Coast Guard responders and a good Samaritan rescued three people from a boat that was quickly sinking in the Atlantic on Friday, 46 miles southeast of Cape Fear, Coast Guard officials said.

The rescue began after the Coast Guard 5th District Command Center in Portsmouth, Virginia, received an emergency alert and sent an HC-130 Hercules plane and an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City to comb the area, officials said.

The Coast Guard also sent an emergency alert in case any boaters were nearby and could respond.

The Hercules crew spotted the boat and dropped a bilge pump and a life raft to the boaters, according to a Coast Guard news release. The boaters abandoned ship and climbed into the raft after they couldn’t get the pump to work.

A good Samaritan boat crew who also responded put the rescued boaters onto their craft..

A 47-foot motor lifeboat crew from Coast Guard Station Oak Island helped escort the good Samaritan’s boat to its station.

No one was hurt, according to the Coast Guard.