USCG Saves Six Off Carolina Coast

PORTSMOUTH, Va. – Six people were rescued, including two young children, from their foundering vessel approximately 25 miles east of Oregon Inlet, N.C., by Coast Guard rescue personnel after their vessel started taking on water today at about 10:30 a.m.

Kevin Nunemaker of Nags Head, N.C., the Captain of the 24-foot recreational fishing vessel, radioed the Coast Guard for help after his vessel started quickly taking on water in its stern area.

A rescue crew from Station Oregon Inlet, N.C., arrived and pulled everyone except for Nunemaker off the distressed fishing vessel. Two members of the the rescue crew then jumped aboard Nunemaker’s vessel and instructed him to keep driving, while they used a dewatering pump lowered to them by a helicopter from Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., to save Nunemaker’s boat.

Rescue crews had trouble spotting Nunemaker’s boat in the five-foot seas until he fired off a signal flare that led them right to his position. Everyone onboard the recreational boat was also wearing their life jackets.

The Coast Guard recommends that all boaters carry some form of signaling device, such as flares or personal marker lights. Coast Guard rescue crews directly attribute flares for the success of this rescue.

USCG Saves Six Off Carolina Coast

PORTSMOUTH, Va. – Six people were rescued, including two young children, from their foundering vessel approximately 25 miles east of Oregon Inlet, N.C., by Coast Guard rescue personnel after their vessel started taking on water today at about 10:30 a.m.

Kevin Nunemaker of Nags Head, N.C., the Captain of the 24-foot recreational fishing vessel, radioed the Coast Guard for help after his vessel started quickly taking on water in its stern area.

A rescue crew from Station Oregon Inlet, N.C., arrived and pulled everyone except for Nunemaker off the distressed fishing vessel. Two members of the the rescue crew then jumped aboard Nunemaker’s vessel and instructed him to keep driving, while they used a dewatering pump lowered to them by a helicopter from Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., to save Nunemaker’s boat.

Rescue crews had trouble spotting Nunemaker’s boat in the five-foot seas until he fired off a signal flare that led them right to his position. Everyone onboard the recreational boat was also wearing their life jackets.

The Coast Guard recommends that all boaters carry some form of signaling device, such as flares or personal marker lights. Coast Guard rescue crews directly attribute flares for the success of this rescue.