HOUSTON – The Coast Guard, along with the assistance of a Good Samaritan, rescued six people from the Gulf of Mexico this evening, after their 20-foot sailboat capsized 10-miles south of Matagorda Island, Texas.
A watchstander at Sector Houston-Galveston received a call at 5:15 p.m. from tech airman Roy Rogers of Rotor Craft Leasing that one of the company’s helicopter crews had discovered a capsized sailboat in the Gulf of Mexico. Coast Guard Air Station Houston and Air Station Corpus Christi launched HH-65C helicopter rescue crews to assist.
The civilian helicopter crew remained on-scene searching for the six people in the water. The crew reported to Coast Guard watchstanders that four people had swam to a Brazos offshore rig and two others had been swept away by the current. At 5:40 p.m. the remaining two people had been located in the water. Both people in the water were wearing lifejackets.
Coast Guard helicopter rescue crews from Houston and Corpus Christi safely hoisted all six people.
All six people were flown to Palachos Airport off Matagorda Bay to awaiting EMS.
