The Coast Guard had to perform an early morning rescue Wednesday of seven crew members on board an ablaze commercial fishing boat off the coast of Monterey.
The alerts came in to the Eleventh Coast Guard District command center in Alameda around 1 a.m., according to Lt. Michael Jeffko. A C-27 aircraft was deployed to aid the boat, which had caught fire about 350 miles west of Monterey.
The aircraft arrived around 3 a.m. and found the crew of the ablaze Blue Dragon boat waiting in a lifeboat nearby, signaling with what looked like a flashlight.
After arrival, the aircraft dropped an additional lifeboat and other supplies to the seven crewmembers. In the meantime, an Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel was deployed, the Nord Rubicon, to provide additional assistance.
The Nord Rubicon reached the survivor's liferaft at 8:30 a.m. and all were rescued with no injuries reported, said Jeffko.
The Nord Rubicon then transported the fishing boat crew to San Francisco.
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