Editor's note: For audio, click on the thumbnails above.
HONOLULU — The Coast Guard is seeking the public's assistance after receiving a mayday call from a mariner in distress approximately 46 miles west of Kailua-Kona Thursday.
After reviewing additional audio files of the distress call the name of the vessel may be Molea or Malia.
Watchstanders at Sector Honolulu Command Center received a mayday call over VHF radio channel 16 from a distressed mariner at 8:03 a.m. The mariner reported flooding on his small boat and provided a GPS position near Alenuihaha Channel before communications were lost.
Currently searching are an HC-130 Hercules airplane crew and an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point. Coast Guard Cutter Ahi, an 87-foot patrol boat homeported in Honolulu, is en route and is expected to arrive on scene at 12 a.m.
The Dolphin and Ahi crews will search throughout the night.
Current on scene weather conditions are 35-mile per hour winds with six foot seas.
The description of the vessel and number of people aboard are unknown.
Anyone with information that could assist in identifying the mariner in distress, the vessel, or voyage plan should contact the Sector Honolulu Command Center at (808) 842-2600.