Two fishermen who jumped overboard from their burning boat Thursday morning about 4 miles south of Port Clyde were rescued by the crew of another boat.
The U.S. Coast Guard received a distress call around 10 a.m. from the two men who had been aboard the fishing vessel Miss Lynn, reporting that the boat’s engine room was on fire, the Coast Guard announced shortly after noon.
The Coast Guard launched a 29-foot response boat and diverted the 225-foot buoy tender cutter Willow from nearby, but it also requested assistance from other mariners in the area.
The fishing vessel Bug Catcha was the first to arrive at the burning Miss Lynn. By that time, the two men aboard the burning boat had donned survival suits and jumped in the water. The Bug Catcha crew helped them from the water, according to the Coast Guard.
The crew from the cutter Willow arrived shortly afterward and tried to extinguish the Miss Lynn fire, but the boat was heavily damaged at that point and sank quickly near Cilley Ledge with no sign of pollution, the Coast Guard said.
“This is an unfortunate situation for the two fishermen, but they did several things right that saved their lives,” Capt. Michael Baroody, commanding officer of Coast Guard Sector Northern New England, said in a written statement. “They used their radio to make a distress call to notify the Coast Guard, they relayed the critical information we needed and they donned immersion suits.”
The Coast Guard intends to conduct an investigation into the boat fire.
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