CLEARWATER, Fla. — Coast Guard crews along Florida’s Gulf Coast responded to multiple search and rescue cases this Labor Day weekend.
In total, 27 search and rescue cases were logged. Below are a few highlights from Thursday to Monday.
- Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg command center watchstanders assisted a lost mariner in the vicinity of Hudson, Fla.
- Coast Guard Station Ft. Myers Beach transported two survivors to safety after their vessel began to take on water near Sanibel Island, Fla.
- A good Samaritan assisted Station Ft. Myers Beach in rescuing six men who spent approximately 30 hours in the water after their boat started to sink west of Blind Pass, Fla.
- A Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater helicopter crew conducted a medical evacuation of a woman from the Carnival Paradise 60 miles offshore.
- Coast Guard Station St. Petersburg assisted and escorted a mariner in a disabled vessel near the Courtney Campbell Causeway.
“We are always happy to see people enjoying themselves on the water but ask that they do so in a safe manner,” said Lt. Ben OLoughlin, a command duty officer at Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg.
The Coast Guard reminds all boaters and mariners to do the following before heading out on the water:
- Wear a life jacket at all time.
- File a float plan
- Have a marine band radio and visual distress signals on board
- Have a registered 406MHz Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon
- Have a Personal Locator Beacon
- Do not boat under the influence of alcohol or drugs
