The Coast Guard executed a rescue early Wednesday morning of those aboard a boat that had run aground near the entrance of Willapa Bay.

The initial call came in after midnight, early Wednesday morning, said Petty Office 2nd Class Steve Strohmaier, a Coast Guard public affairs specialist.

“At almost 12:30 in the morning, Sector Columbia River watchstanders received a 911 from local authorities that a 50-foot fishing vessel was aground and starting to take on water in the vicinity of the Willapa Bay entrance,” Strohmaier said in a phone interview. “There were three people aboard and two dogs.”

The boat’s battery was dead, and no one aboard had a GPS-equipped phone, while heavy fog obscured landmarks that would allow those aboard to make an accurate guess of their position, Strohmaier said.

“They reported several feet of water in the engine room,” Strohmaier said. “The flooding was holding steady and not increasing.”

The vessel’s grounding meant that the water levels inside would remain steady with the sea level, but that didn’t help the Coast Guard locate the vessel, Strohmaier said. Watchstanders sortied rescue crews as they sought to locate the vessel.

“The watchstanders at Columbia River launched a UMIB — an urgent marine information broadcast,” Strohmaier said. “They launched Station Grays Harbor nearby. They also talked to Air Station Astoria to see if they could render assistance. The biggest concern at the time was that they didn’t have the location.”

Watchstanders were able to get a fix on the location when the vessel’s master activated the EPIRB — the emergency position-indicating radiobeacon, which allowed the MH-60 Jayhawk aircrew to home in on the vessel and begin rescue operations. Strohmaier said.

“At 2:15 local, the helicopter arrived on scene and started communicating with the vessel,” Strohmaier said. “Three survivors airlifted into the helicopter, along with the two dogs.”

The humans and dogs were transported to Willapa Harbor Airport and evaluated for injuries. No injuries were reported, Strohmaier said. The master of the vessel is currently working with his insurance company on salvage options, Strohmaier said.

“We’re going to be keeping an eye on where it is, for any pollution concerns or any hazards to navigation concerns,” Strohmaier said.

Making sure vessels are equipped with a functioning emergency position-indicating radiobeacon is a key safety strategy, Strohmaier said.

“That EPIRB would have alerted the Coast Guard to a distress situation and we would have launched,” Strohmaier said. “That EPIRB is ultimately what led to their rescue.”

Contact Senior Reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or michael.lockett@thedailyworld.com.