HONOLULU (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard has helped rescue 42 people who abandoned their fishing vessel after it caught fire.
No injuries were reported after fire broke out on the U.S.-flagged vessel about 1,800 miles south of Hawaii Wednesday.
The fishing crew boarded two life rafts, three work boats and one skiff as they left the 258-foot American Eagle. A Coast Guard airplane arrived Wednesday evening and dropped a pump, flashlights and flares.
The captain and eight crew members were able to get back aboard the vessel after the fire died down and snuff out the flames. They got power back on, while the 33 others were rescued by an oil tanker that had been traveling nearby.
American Eagle’s sister ship, American Victory, is en route and expected to arrive in three days to relieve the tanker.