A 17-foot boat that went missing near Rancho Palos Verdes with three people aboard was found today, with everyone safe, and was being towed to San Pedro, the U.S Coast Guard reported.
“The Coast Guard had been broadcasting marine warnings to be on the lookout for this vessel, and one nearby boat saw the disabled vessel at about 8:40 a.m. and initiated a tow,” said U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer Andrea Anderson.
“This good Samaritan contacted us and we sent a ship to his location to take over the tow,” Anderson added. “Everyone on board was safe and we are bringing the vessel into Cabrillo Harbor in San Pedro for repairs.”
Anderson said the ship’s problems stemmed from an engine breakdown.
The wayward boat left Avalon Harbor on Santa Catalina Island with “one male and two females” aboard about 8 p.m. Sunday and was last seen near Rancho Palos Verdes, said Adam Eggers, a civilian Coast Guard spokesman. It was headed for the Redondo Beach area.
“A 911 call was sent out to L.A. County Lifeguards at about 9:30 (Sunday night) that their engine had died and they were unable to get it started,” Eggers said.
The boat had no radio and the cellphone company told the Coast Guard the phone had died.
The Coast Guard launched a helicopter and boats and began the search, along with Los Angeles County Fire Department Lifeguards, at 9:56 p.m. Sunday, said Los Angeles County Dispatch Supervisor Robert Diaz. The Long Beach Fire Department was asked to join the search at 11:12 p.m., Diaz said. But L.A. County Fire got out of the search after 1 a.m., he said.
A Long Beach-based Coast Guard helicopter stayed on the search all night, its pilot and crew equipped with night vision goggles. It was replaced
around 6 a.m. by a helicopter from San Diego, Eggers said. The Marina del Rey-based 87-foot Coast Guard cutter Halibut also joined the search this morning.
The search centered off Rancho Palos Verdes, San Pedro and Redondo Beach, Eggers said.
