Coast Guard to Be Honored in New Orleans
The Coast Guard Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to the education and welfare of Coast Guard members and their families, announced today the details of its Annual Tribute to the 8th Coast Guard District. To be held on Friday, March 4 in New Orleans, Coast Guard Sector Mobile will be honored at the event for their skill and leadership in organizing a mass search and rescue operation on April 25, 2015. An unforeseen storm on that day struck Mobile Bay and nearby Mississippi Sound with tropical force winds and waves, grounding a 600-foot tanker and impacting the 117 sailboats participating in a race. In total, more than 470 sailors and crew were in the Bay that afternoon as the storm whipped up with little warning, creating a chaotic scene as competitors scrambled to react.
USCG Rescues 4 from Sinking Vessel
A U.S. Coast Guard boatcrew rescued four people approximately 30 miles south of Cape San Blas, Fla., Friday. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Station Panama City, Fla., received a report of a 55-foot fishing vessel, the CBS, taking on water 30 miles South of Cape San Blas with four people aboard. The vessel operator originally made a distress phone call to his wife using his satellite phone, who then subsequently relayed the information to the Coast Guard. Coast Guard Sector Mobile issued an urgent marine information broadcast and launched a 45-foot response boat out of Station Panama City and an HC-144 Ocean Sentry fixed-wing aircraft from Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Mobile. Two good Samaritan vessels heard the UMIB and began transiting to offer assistance.
