| Release #: 10-09 |
| Release date: Oct. 23, 2003 |
| Contact: Petty Officer Dana Warr |
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Coast Guard assists in rescue of three fishermen |
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla., -- Coast Guard units along with a Canadian naval ship and a Good Samaritian responded to a distress call from the captain of the 80-foot commercial fishing vessel, Thomas Winfield, 23 miles east of Cape Canaveral, Fla., today at 5 p.m. Milton Wopp, 44, captain of the Thomas Winfield homeported in Tarpon Springs, Fla., and resident of New Port Richey, Fla., along with Shawn Morrison, 40, also a New Port Richey resident and Lee Brown, 19, a Clearwater, Fla., resident called for Mayday and reported their fishing vessel was on fire and they needed immediate assistance. All three fishermen were forced to abandoned ship into a liferaft to escape the flames. Rescue crews from Coast Guard Station Cape Canaveral and Ponce De Leon Inlet, Fla., Coast Guard Air Station Savannah, Ga., the Canadian naval vessel, HMS Montreal, and the Good Samaritan vessel, Sunrise, all responded to the call. The crew of the Sunrise was first to reach the three fishermen and then took them on board. The fishermen were transferred to the Cape Canaveral Coast Guard rescue crews and are scheduled to arrive at the Cape Canaveral Coast Guard Station about 10 p.m. The survivors are reported to be in good condition. Communications through VHF radio were broken but the crew of the HMS Montreal helped send information to Coast Guard units ashore which in turn resulted in a quicker response to the boat fire. All boaters are reminded to have on board all required safety gear like life jackets, flares, working VHF radio and a life raft if needed. -uscg- The U.S. Coast Guard is a military, maritime, multi-mission service within the |
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