4/15/2012 - MOFFETT FEDERAL AIRFIELD, Calif. -- California Air National Guardsmen from the 129th Rescue Wing continue to assist the Eleventh District U.S. Coast Guard in conducting rescue efforts 45 miles west of the San Francisco Bay.
Rescue crews are searching for the remaining four civilian crew members who were involved in an accident on a 38-foot sailing vessel participating in a race Saturday around the Farallon Islands.
Two Air National Guard HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopters and one MC-130P Combat Shadow launched this morning en route to the accident site to continue to search for the missing crew members.
The mission began Saturday afternoon when the Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center at Coast Guard Island, Alameda, received a distress signal from the vessel, Low Speed Chase, with eight people on board. Two Pave Hawk helicopters and crews joined rescuers from the Coast Guard's Air Station San Francisco and Station Golden Gate.
The vessel was hit by a large wave that washed crew members overboard before sending the vessel onto rocks near the island, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Levi Read. Upon arriving on scene, 129th Rescue Wing crews hoisted one survivor to safety and recovered a deceased crew member. Coast Guard helicopters recovered two survivors.
Photos of the rescue will be made available online at www.129rqw.ang.af.mil and www.facebook.com/129RQW. Courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard, video footage of yesterday's rescue is available at http://cgvi.uscg.mil/media/main.php?g2_itemId=1599003. For more information please contact Maj. Alyson Teeter at 650-603-9152.
