US Coast Guard assists more than 30 aboard adrift vessel off Galveston
Boating safety for those hitting the water on Memorial Day Weekend
**NOTE: This report is from an earlier story** The U.S. Coast Guard is asking you to play it safe if you decide to be on the water this Memorial Day weekend. FOX 26 Photojournalist Darlene Janik Faires went out with crews to find out how they would respond in a worst-case scenario.
GALVESTON, Texas - More than 30 people were assisted by the U.S. Coast Guard after their vessel went adrift over in Galveston, Texas.
The Coast Guard announced in a press statement that watchstanders with the Houston-Galveston sector received a call around 11 a.m. from the captain of the dolphin sight-seeing vessel Baywatch Too saying it had lost steering and was drifting toward a dredge pipe in a highly trafficked area near Seawolf Park.
Watchstanders then issued an urgent marine information broadcast to direct a launch for a Coast Guard Station Galveston 45-foot Response Boat-Medium (RB-M) crew, while a Coast Guard Auxillari Flotilla boat crew arrived at the scene to assist and relay communications.
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The RB-M crew arrived shortly and placed the Baywatch Too vessel and safely transported it, the crew, and passengers to Pier 21 in Galveston.
"It is fortunate we were patrolling nearby, heard the call for help, and were able to relay communications between the Baywatch Too and the Coast Guard command center," Greg Hoffnung, coxswain of the Auxiliary Flotilla 6-8 boat crew said in a press statement. "We recommend that all boaters keep a listening watch on channel 16, so they can support fellow mariners in distress, especially during such a busy holiday weekend."