Passengers climb onto rocky ocean ledge before boat capsizes off Washington coast
Four people were plucked from rocks and crashing surf after they sought refuge from their sinking ship off Washington’s rugged and isolated coast late Tuesday night, the Coast Guard reported.
A Coast Guard rescue helicopter crew hoisted up the four, including a child, from rocks at Cape Flattery on the northwest tip of the Olympic Peninsula.
Around 10 p.m. Tuesday, Coast Guard watchstanders in Puget Sound received a distress call from the captain of a 28-foot-long vessel. The ship was disabled, the captain said, and was drifting near rocks between Tatoosh Island and Cape Flattery.
The unpopulated area is part of the Makah Tribe’s reservation. Steep cliffs made a land rescue impractical.
An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and its rescue crew launched from Port Angeles along with Coast Guard Station Neah Bay’s 47-foot motor lifeboat and its crew.
The boat crew arrived at the disabled ship at 10:30 p.m. but couldn’t get close enough, the Coast Guard said. Rescuers faced 6-foot seas and 20 mile per hour winds.
The four people aboard the ship climbed onto a ledge shortly before their boat capsized around 10:45 p.m., the Coast Guard reported. All four were wearing life jackets.
The helicopter arrived at 11 p.m. and deployed a rescue swimmer to assist with hoisting.
The helicopter crew flew the first two survivors to Station Neah Bay. It returned around midnight to rescue the remaining two passengers. All four were uninjured.
This story was originally published June 18, 2020 at 12:03 PM.
