RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The crew of a cargo ship is being credited with rescuing two sailors who were caught in rough seas hundreds of miles off North Carolina’s coast.
The Raleigh News & Observer reports that the rescue occurred Saturday about 345 miles east of Hatteras Inlet on the Outer Banks.
Rough seas had disabled the boat’s sails and engine and stranded the two sailors in severe weather, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement. The Coast Guard launched an aircrew and broadcast an emergency alert to other vessels.
A 958-foot cargo ship, the KSL Santiago, was nearby and rescued the sailors.
“This could have gone much differently given the weather conditions, the fact that the boat was disabled and that it was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean,” Kelvin Morgan, operational unit controller for the Coast Guard’s Fifth District command center, said in a statement. “The fact we have partners like the crew and captain of the KSL Santiago allows cases like this to have a happy ending.”
