CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – A good Samaritan rescued three people and the Coast Guard recovered a fourth person who was unresponsive after a pleasure craft capsized in the Nueces Bay, Saturday night.
A watchstander from Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi received a call at 7:22 p.m. from a woman stating that their boat had become disabled with four persons on board. After declining commercial salvage, the family elected to stay the night on the boat. At 8:40 p.m., Sector Corpus Christi received a call from the Corpus Christi Police Department reporting that the boat had capsized with three people in the water.
Air Station Corpus Christi launched an MH-65C helicopter rescue crew to locate and recover the boaters. A good Samaritan picked up three survivors from the shallow but rough waters before departing the scene due to low fuel. The helicopter rescue crew lowered the rescue swimmer to the water at the location of the capsized boat. The rescue swimmer located the fourth person trapped underneath the boat. The 53 year-old man was airlifted to Spohn Memorial hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
All four survivors were wearing life jackets or had access to flotation devices.
