US Coast Guard Boat Forces Unit US Virgin Islands, St Thomas Rescue and St John Rescue marine units rescued a boater following a vessel fire near St Thomas, US Virgin Islands, on Sunday, May 31.
Coast guard watchstanders in Sector San Juan received a radio call on Channel 16 at approximately 17:15 local time from an aircraft reporting a vessel fire, approximately 12 nautical miles south of St Thomas.
Watchstanders directed the launch of a coast guard MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Borinquen in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, and a 33-foot (10-metre) boat to respond and search for signs of distress.
Watchstanders also notified St Thomas Rescue and St Thomas 911 and they issued an urgent marine information broadcast to alert vessel traffic in the area.
Shortly thereafter, the coast guard vessel, a St Thomas Rescue marine unit and a St John Rescue unit arrived on scene locating the boater floating and clinging to an overturned dinghy. The coast guard boat crew recovered the boater, who informed being the sole passenger aboard the 45-foot (14-metre) catamaran Abundance, which sank after the fire.
The survivor was transferred to a Virgin Islands Fire and Emergency Medical Services crew, who transported him to Charlotte Amalie in St Thomas.