Elizabeth City Coast Guard crew rescues family near Wachapreague

The Coast Guard says the 18-foot pleasure craft ran aground Monday evening in Finney Creek and was on an oyster bed.

“As soon as we saw the beacon go off I knew they were in trouble, said Petty Officer 1st Class Paul Brancaleone, one of the operations unit coordinators at the 1st Coast Guard District”.

The 16-metre fishing boat Scotia Provider was about 240 kilometres off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass., when its engine room began taking on water.

A rescue swimmer from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City poses with passengers aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk.

The Coast Guard sent two Cape Cod-based aircraft and the cutter Escanaba and also alerted several nearby fishing vessels to head to the scene.

At around 3:10 p.m. on Monday, rescue crews noticed the men’s bobbing orange life-raft and hoisted the three survivors into a helicopter.