COAST GUARD RESCUES 2 PEOPLE NEAR CEDAR KEY CEDAR KEY, Fla. – A rescue crew from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater rescued two people from the water approximately 30-nautical-miles off Cedar Key today. Coast Guard Sector Mobile and Sector St. Petersburg received a mayday call at about 4:30 a.m. today from the vessel H.D. Mitchell that the vessel was taking on water and sinking with three people on board off St. George Sound, Fla. Sector Mobile immediately launched a Falcon air search unit and Air Station Clearwater launched a rescue helicopter to search for the people in the water. Coast Guard units searched a 2,800-square-nautical-mile area before learning that the reporting source miscommunicated the position of the sinking vessel. The search units located a fuel sheen about a mile long amid a debris field 53-nautical-miles south east of where the source initially reported. The rescue helicopter hoisted two people from the water at about 4:45 p.m. and brought them to Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Fla. The third person was reported deceased and is being recovered by an asset from Sector Mobile. Names of the three people are unknown at this time. COAST GUARD RESCUES 2 PEOPLE NEAR CEDAR KEY CEDAR KEY, Fla. – A rescue crew from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater rescued two people from the water approximately 30-nautical-miles off Cedar Key today. Coast Guard Sector Mobile and Sector St. Petersburg received a mayday call at about 4:30 a.m. today from the vessel H.D. Mitchell that the vessel was taking on water and sinking with three people on board off St. George Sound, Fla. Sector Mobile immediately launched a Falcon air search unit and Air Station Clearwater launched a rescue helicopter to search for the people in the water. Coast Guard units searched a 2,800-square-nautical-mile area before learning that the reporting source miscommunicated the position of the sinking vessel. The search units located a fuel sheen about a mile long amid a debris field 53-nautical-miles south east of where the source initially reported. The rescue helicopter hoisted two people from the water at about 4:45 p.m. and brought them to Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Fla. The third person was reported deceased and is being recovered by an asset from Sector Mobile. Names of the three people are unknown at this time.
