United States Coast Guard (USCG) boats, cutters, and helicopters safely transferred 118 people off a casino boat that ran aground and became stranded about two miles northeast of Tybee Island in the state of Georgia, USA.
The 53-metre casino boat, 'Escapade', was carrying 94 passengers and 31 crewmembers when it ran aground. The cause of the grounding is under USCG investigation.
Coast Guard members aboard three 7.6-metre response boats and one 13.7-metre response boat worked to ferry 114 people from the casino boat to the USCG Cutters 'Maria Bray' and 'Tarpon'.
Once all 114 people were aboard the cutters, both departed the area and took the people to Coast Guard Station Tybee Island, where EMTs were standing by and vans were available to take them to their vehicles at the Escapade's homeport in Savannah.
Seven 'Escapade' crewmembers remain aboard the ship to monitor it until a commercial salvage company reattempts to tow the vessel later.
After five unsuccessful attempts by a commercial salvage company to tow the 'Escapade' with all the people still aboard, a decision was made to transfer the passengers and non-essential staff and crewmembers to shore.
