One Man Rescued After Boat Sinks
Coast Guard Still Searching For Another
PORTSMOUTH, Va., -- The Coast Guard pulled one man from the water to safety and is searching for another this morning after their vessel sank overnight 23 miles off Fort Macon, N.C.
Zach Shaffer, 33, of Charleston, S.C., is still missing after the 56-foot sport fisher Physical Therapy began taking on water and capsized as he and Joe Harris, also of Charleston, donned their lifejackets and abandoned ship.
Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center Miami first received notification of the distressed vessel at about 4 this morning when the Physical Therapy’s Electronic Positioning Indicator Radio Beacon (EPIRB) was activated, sending the vessel’s name and position.
Following the EPIRB broadcast, a C-130 airplane from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, and a 47-foot rescue boat from Coast Guard Station Fort Macon immediately launched to assist. Around 7a.m., the C-130 noticed a strobe light and directed the rescue boat to their position. Crewmembers from the rescue boat pulled Harris to safety and continued searching for Shaffer, who had reportedly removed his lifejacket and begun swimming towards the airplane when he had seen it.
Coast Guard Cutter Staten Island, a 110-foot patrol boat out of Fort Macon, and a Coast Guard helicopter from Elizabeth City, are also heading out to assist in the search.
Shaffer and Harris were delivering the Physical Therapy to Moorhead City, N.C., from Charleston.
