SIESTA BEACH, Fla. – Four people were rescued by the Coast Guard and partner agencies from a 27-foot boat after it began taking on water four miles west of Siesta Key, Thursday.
Rescued were Albert Lee, 59, Lyn Yun Deng, 55, Gian Bin Pan, 40, and Lean Chung Yan, 42.
A member aboard the boat contacted Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg watchstanders at 2:41 p.m., via cellular phone reporting they were taking on water in the vicinity of New Pass and were in immediate need of assistance.
A 45-foot Response Boat — Medium crew from Coast Guard Station Cortez arrived on scene and found no signs of the distressed vessel.
The watchstanders directed the caller to call 911 so they could receive a GPS position, but the Sarasota Police Department were unable to get a position from the call.
Watchstanders were able to contact AT&T to request a report from the second cellular phone number queried, which produced a position in the Siesta Beach vicinity.
The RBM crew arrived on scene at 4:50 p.m., to find all four people in the water clinging to the hull of the overturned boat.
All four people were safely recovered from the water, with minor injuries, by the RBM crew and were transferred to the Sarasota Police Department Marine Unit boatcrew.
“All four people were wearing their life jackets, which aided tremendously in their survival while waiting for our crews to locate them,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Ronnie Leavell, a search and rescue controller at the sector. “The Coast Guard wants to remind boaters the importance of having the proper safety equipment and a VHF-FM marine band radio aboard their boat. Having the radio could have helped the Coast Guard get to their position quickly in this incident.”
Sea Tow is making plans to salvage the capsized vessel.
