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Six rescued after mishaps off Mass. coast

E-mail|Link|Comments () August 18, 2009 03:09 PM

Cohasset Harbormaster

The boat sinking off Grampus Ledges on Sunday

By Michaela Stanelun, Globe Correspondent

Six people were rescued in three incidents in the past three days off the Massachusetts coast, officials said.

A 51-year-old man suffering from heart attack symptoms was airlifted from a fishing boat 135 miles east of Provincetown today, the Coast Guard said.

He fell overboard at around 10 a.m. from the 83-foot scallop vessel, the Gaston. After being brought back on board, he experienced heart attack symptoms, including chest pains and tingling on the left side of his body.

He was transferred to the Coast Guard cutter Escanaba, which was in the area, and then airlifted to Cape Cod Hospital, where he is in stable condition. His name was not released.

In the second incident, a young couple from Marshfield floated for two hours in the ocean Monday afternoon when their boat capsized off of Cape Cod, the Coast Guard said.

The 23-foot SeaCraft operated by Charlie Maclean, 23, and his girlfriend, Claire DeLarbre, 20, capsized at about 2:20 p.m. Monday 10 miles northwest of Race Point, off the northern tip of the Cape.

The two were fishing and were not wearing life jackets when the boat capsized, said Petty Officer Lauren Jorgensen, a Coast Guard spokeswoman. DeLarbre and Maclean were in the water for two hours before being spotted by a passing boat, Miracle II, which radioed for help.

“There were two-foot seas in the water when they capsized,” Jorgensen said. “But to be in the water for two hours, without life jackets, that can get exhausting quickly.” Jorgensen said she didn't know if the couple were treading water or clinging to the capsized boat.

The couple were rescued by a Coast Guard boat and taken to Green Harbor.

“This accident is a true example of how quickly things can go wrong and why it's so important for boaters to wear a life jacket any time they're underway," Chief Petty Officer Gerald Welton said in a statement.

In the third incident, a 39-foot boat on Sunday struck the Grampus Ledges about a mile away from Cohasset Harbor.

Cohasset Harbormaster Lorri Gibbons said the boat, owned by Joel Livingston with two friends on board, radioed for help around 5:15 p.m., after the boat began taking on water.

Two rescue boats were sent out to rescue the three people aboard, but the boat sank.

“The boat sank around 10 minutes after we arrived on scene to help pump the boat out,” Gibbons said.

Gibbons said the ledges are properly marked and said the boat may have strayed out of the channel.