5 rescued as boat burns and sinks off Catalina Island
A 51-foot power vessel caught fire off Catalina over the weekend, and firefighters could not save it. The boat, which had five passengers aboard, became engulfed in flames and billowed thick smoke before sinking off the south shore of the island.
Within 50 minutes of the vessel catching fire, all the passengers had been rescued and ferried to shore, authorities said. The boat riders were checked for smoke inhalation, and there were no injuries.
The fire started at around 7 a.m. Sunday on the “backside” of Catalina Island, said U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Richard Uranga.
Los Angeles County lifeguards at Baywatch Avalon and Baywatch Isthmus and L.A. County Fire Department Station 55 responded and fought the fire. The passengers, according to the L.A. County Lifeguards’ Instagram page, were rescued by good Samaritans.
Uranga said the Los Angeles Coast Guard station responded as well, and a helicopter was sent out, “but by the time they got there, the ... fire had already been subsided.”
He said there was no leakage of oil or gasoline “of any kind,” and that the fire was electrical.
Uranga said the next step is to lift the boat, which sank after the fire, and tow it to dry dock where a more thorough investigation can be undertaken.
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