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Coast Guard saves 5
from sinking boat

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Star-Bulletin

Five fishermen on a sinking boat 206 miles off Kauai were rescued by the Coast Guard last night.

They left the sinking boat, the Kilauea, taking on heavy water behind them.

"It was a dangerous situation, and it never got better. For the safety of all, we evacuated the boat," said Coast Guard Petty Officer Jason Acton.

The fishermen were uninjured.

The Coast Guard received the distress call for the sinking Kilauea at 6:35 p.m. Thursday, and launched a C-130 airplane from Kalaeloa (Barbers Point). The plane located the boat two hours later and began dropping pumps.

Kilauea crew members recovered a pump and within 20 minutes prevented the boat from taking on more water. However, they couldn't remove the water already on board.

The Coast Guard launched its cutter, Assateague, a 110-foot patrol boat, at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, and a team boarded the Kilauea to try to stop the flooding.

The pumps worked for a few hours, but eventually failed to control the flooding.

The Assateague with the Kilauea crew aboard was expected to arrive in Honolulu late today.

A commercial tug was sent to pull the boat back to Kauai or Oahu.