EMPIRE, La. – The Coast Guard rescued five people with assistance from a good Samaritan about 18 miles offshore of Empire, La., Saturday.
Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector New Orleans received a report of a 20-foot recreational boat taking on water at 9:45 a.m. Watchstanders directed the launch of an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans and a 45-foot Response Boat-Medium crew from Coast Guard Station Grand Isle.
The people onboard the recreational boat had been transferred to a good Samaritan vessel, the OSV Joseph Bisso, before the Coast Guard crews arrived.
The mariners were then transferred to the Response Boat-Medium from Station Grand Isle, which put the recreational boat in tow for transit back to Grand Isle.