| Release #: M10-04 |
| Release date: October 7, 2003 |
| Contact: Petty Officer Crystal Norman |
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Coast Guard rescues 4, assist 2, coordinates third rescue |
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla., -- Coast Guard rescue units in Jacksonville responded to three search and rescue cases this afternoon after heavy weather rolls through the First Coast. Within one hour... A Station Mayport, Fla. rescue crew on board a 47-foot life boat safely remove four men from the 26-foot commercial dive boat, Blackfin I, after the vessel began to take on water and was in danger of sinking about one mile southeast of the Mayport jetties around 1:40 p.m. Larry Austin, 57; Rudy Birnbach, 30; Ray Black, 36 and Vinko Koteski, 39 were safely transferred to Group Mayport. A commercial salvage company was able to pump out the Blackfin I and tow it pack onto port. Another rescue crew from Station Mayport responded to a Mayday call about 1:30 p.m. from a 23-foot disabled pleasure craft just off the Mayport jetties. The Coast Guard crew towed the disabled vessel and dropped off its two crewmembers at Mayport Marina. The Coast Guard Group Mayport Operation Center also coordinated the search efforts for a reported overturned vessel in the vicinity of Doctors Lake. Two U.S. Navy helicopter crews and members of the Clay County Sheriffs Office searched the area for a possible overturned vessel but have yet to find any signs of a vessel in distress.
-uscg- The U.S. Coast Guard is a military, maritime, multi-mission service within the |
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