Eleven people were rescued after a charter boat began taking on water off the coast of Southern California Saturday night, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles/Long Beach received a distress call at around 6:20 p.m. Saturday from the operator of the 50-foot charter catamaran Manutea, reporting that the vessel was taking on water while navigating back to Dana Point Harbor, south of Los Angeles.
Dana Point Harbor Patrol and the Orange County Sheriffs Department were also monitoring VHF Channel 16, used for marine distress calls, and also responded to assist. The Coast Guard issued an urgent marine information broadcast to alert other vessels in the area, launched a response boat and diverted the Coast Guard Cutter David Duren to assist.
The David Duren’s small boat crew and partner agency vessels arrived on scene and managed to control the flooding on board the Manutea. All 11 people on board were safely transferred to another charter vessel operated by the same company, the Coast Guard said.
TowBoat US responded to the scene and took the Manutea in tow to Dana Point Harbor.
