7 Rescued By Coast Guard In Rough Seas Off Cape May

CAPE MAY, NJ — Seven people were rescued from a sport fishing boat caught in rough seas about 69 miles southeast of Cape May on Sunday.

Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay received a report just after 1:15 p.m. from Coast Guard Sector Virginia that a 40-foot sport fishing boat with seven people aboard had been beset by weather with seas reaching about 10 feet.

As conditions continued to worsen, the crew of the vessel activated their Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB).

Coast Guard crews aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk and an HC-130 Hercules aircraft, from Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and a 47-foot motor lifeboat from Station Indian River were launched to help.

All seven people were hoisted and taken to Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, where local emergency medical services (EMS) were standing by to assist.

“One of the scariest and most unpredictable places you can be is out on the water in a storm,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher Petrenko, an operations specialist with the Sector Delaware Bay Command Center. “Fortunately, they had life jackets, a registered EPIRB and a radio, which they used to call for help. If any one of those pieces had been missing, we might not have been as successful as we were.”

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