Updated at 2:20 p.m., Friday, November 21, 2003
Rescue crews still searching for pair aboard life raft
Advertiser Staff
Crews from the Coast Guard, as well as a private fishing vessel and a commercial container ship are still searching for a couple aboard a life raft, riding out a storm 950 miles north-northwest of O'ahu.Coast Guard officials said the covered raft that was searched first was unoccupied. However, the couple's boat is believed to have more than one raft, and officials said there are multiple rafts in the area that are being searched, including one dropped last night with emergency supplies.
The couple, a husband and wife in their 60s, are in a raft in 25-foot seas and winds of nearly 60 mph, Coast Guard officials said. They are believed to be from the 32-foot sailboat Azure, a single-masted vessel that left Nawiliwili Harbor on Kaua'i on Nov. 6, bound for Long Beach, Calif.
The rough conditions have complicated the rescue, Coast Guard Petty Officer Brooks Ann Anderson said today, adding that a Coast Guard cutter also was summoned and a C-130 aircraft is circling.
The Coast Guard received a signal from the Azure’s emergency beacon before daybreak yesterday. A Coast Guard C-130 patrol aircraft from Barbers Point found the raft and spotted two people moving around inside, officials said. The fixed-wing airplane dropped emergency gear, including a radio.
The Coast Guard last night tracked the container ship in the area and summoned a commercial fishing craft from about 100 miles away. Air Force parajumpers that had been summoned from San Francisco have returned to base, officials said.
