6 Missing After Fishing Vessel Reportedly Sinks Near Galveston

Posted in Fishing Vessel Accidents,Texas Maritime News on May 21, 2012

Coast Guard crews in Galveston, Texas are searching for 6 crewmembers of a fishing vessel that may have sank near Galveston, TX in Gulf of Mexico early Monday afternoon.

Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston said they received a mayday call from the captain of a fishing vessel at approximately 1:15 p.m. reporting that their vessel was taking on water, and the six people aboard were abandoning ship and getting into an orange life raft.

Details, however, are still unclear as the mayday call was said to be of poor quality.  At this point, the USCG does not know the name or details of the vessel and it is not clear whether the fishing vessel was part of a commercial operation or private.

USCG has said that they believe the name of the vessel to be Scallywag or Skylark and the vessel was believed to be described as purple and blue colored with a white stripe.

Participating in the search are 3 Coast Guard response boats, a dolphin helicopter, a plane and two cutters.  The assets are currently searching currently searching an area roughly the size of Delaware, the USCG says.

“The Coast Guard is expending all available resources to try and locate the six missing people,” stated Elvie Damaso, a command center controller for Sector Houston-Galveston. “We are currently requesting assistance from the public. We are looking for any additional information about the missing people or the fishing vessel.”

If you have any information about this incident, be sure contact the Sector Houston-Galveston command center at 713-678-9011 with details about the vessel or crew.

An audio file of the mayday call can be found HERE.