Boating Safety

Coast Guard Rescues Pair Adrift After 2 Weeks

Coast Guard Rescue

The Coast Guard rescued two men after they were adrift for two weeks.

The United States Coast Guard and a good Samaritan rescued two fishermen who were adrift for two weeks and had been presumed lost at sea. Domingo Jiminez, 45, and Ramon Castillo, 29, both from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic left Samana, in the island nation on May 2. Three days later, the USCG Sector San Juan watchstanders received a report from a concerned family member that the pair had not returned from a fishing trip.

Two Weeks Later

Jimenez and Castillo had been in a 25’ (7.62 m) boat and planned to fish about 132 miles north of Samana. Coast Guard cutters Donald Horsley and Richard Dixon along with air crews from Stations Clearwater and Miami searched for more than 50 hours covering more than 9,690 square miles, eventually suspending the effort on the evening of May 6.

On May 18, sector San Juan received a report from a good Samaritan vessel after it was flagged down by Jimenez and Castillo. Their outboard motor had broken, leaving them stranded and adrift. The Coast Guard directed the launch of an Operation Bahamas Turks and Caicos Jayhawk helicopter that rescued the pair about 23 miles northeast of Cat Island, Bahamas. Jimenez and Castillo were transferred to Bahamian authorities in Nassau.

While Jimenez and Castillo did give family members a rough float plan, they headed offshore without basic safety equipment like a VHF radio and could not properly communicate.

Don’t Forget the Dog

Not quite a week after Jimenez and Castillo headed out, the 64’ (19.51 m) fishing boat, Pete’s Dream, radioed Coast Guard Sector Mobile, Ala., that the vessel was taking on water about 70 nautical miles off Apalachicola, Fla. There were three people and a dog on board.

During the process of launching rescue assets, the station received word that the passengers and dog had abandoned ship and boarded a liferaft. One of the passengers was communicating with shore via a satellite phone.

At about 1 p.m., a Coast Guard helicopter located the raft near the boat’s last known location and retrieved the passengers and the dog. They were transported to Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater.

 

The Coast Guard easily located the passengers from the fishing boat in a liferaft and hoisted all to safety because the vessel had been properly equipped with a satellite phone.

“Abandoning ship into the liferaft and bringing a satellite phone was the absolute right decision,” said Lt. Cmdr. Corrie Sergent, search and rescue mission coordinator at Sector Mobile. “Thanks to their quick actions, the Coast Guard was able to locate them and bring them safely home to their families.”