CG Responds to Runaway Vessel

MORRO BAY, Calif.  – The Coast Guard responded to the runaway fishing vessel Axel that was approximately 130 miles southwest of San Francisco and was believed to be moving with nobody aboard.

A Coast Guard C-130 Hercules aircraft from Air Station Sacramento, and an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Air Station San Francisco was launched to assess the situation. The Coast Guard Cutter Tern, an 87-foot patrol boat homeported at Yerba Buena Island, also headed to the boat.

The unidentified male was picked up by crewmembers from Station Morro Bay. San Luis Obispo County Sherriff's investigators were aboard the 47-foot boat to assist with the recovery and investigation. The boat returned to Morro Bay.

The fishing vessel Miss Allison reported finding an unidentified male attached to a crab pot to Coast Guard Station Morro Bay.  The crab pot is registered to the fishing vessel Axel, a 39-foot vessel homeported in Morro Bay.

The Axel reportedly only had one person aboard at the time of the accident.