Coast Guard responding to runaway fishing vessel off California coast

DATE: November 3, 2009 3:48:55 PM PST

		Eleventh Coast Guard District
NEWS RELEASE	DATE: CONTACT:	Nov. 3, 2009 Public Affairs (510) 772-8865
Coast Guard responding to runaway fishing vessel off California coast
MORRO BAY, Calif. – The Coast Guard is responding to the runaway fishing vessel Axel that is approximately 130 miles southwest of San Francisco and is believed to be moving with nobody aboard Tuesday. A Coast Guard C-130 Hercules aircraft from Air Station Sacramento, and an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Air Station San Francisco have been launched to assess the situation. The Coast Guard Cutter Tern, an 87-foot patrol boat homeported at Yerba Buena Island, is also enroute to the boat. The unidentified male has been picked up by crewmembers from Station Morro Bay. San Luis Obispo County Sherriff's investigators were aboard the 47-foot boat to assist with the recovery and investigation. The boat returned to Morro Bay. The fishing vessel Miss Allison reported finding an unidentified male attached to a crab pot to Coast Guard Station Morro Bay at 11:35 a.m. The crab pot is registered to the fishing vessel Axel, a 39-foot vessel homeported in Morro Bay. The Axel reportedly only had one person aboard at the time of the accident. ###