From
pressofatlanticcity.comPosted: Sunday, July 19, 2009
MANASQUAN - A good samaritan rescued three people from the water Sunday after the 80-foot boat they were aboard caught fire 20 miles east of Barnegat Light, Coast Guard officials said.
The Coast Guard received a call at 3:25 a.m. from a crew member aboard the Miss Peaches relaying a call from a crew member from the Captain O J Riggs who was reporting an engine fire.
A rescue helicopter crew from Air Station Atlantic City, a rescue boat crew from Coast Guard Station Manasquan, and the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Elm, from Atlantic Beach, N.C., were dispatched to the scene.
Good samaritans aboard the A.L. Milliken arrived on scene and recovered the crew from a lifeboat.
The crew of the Cutter Elm then arrived and extinguished the fire and the rescue boat crew transferred the three survivors aboard their boat.
The rescue boat crew transported the three crewmen to Coast Guard Station Manasquan. The survivors had no injuries.
The Captain O J Riggs broke apart and sank.
The incident is under investigation.