No sign of distressed craft found

A Coast Guard aircraft from Florida reached an area 145 miles off Savannah Friday evening but found no sign of a vessel believed to have issued a distress call earlier in the day.

The 87-foot patrol boat Yellowfin was en route to the scene Friday night after being dispatched by the Coast Guard in Charleston.

A civilian boat was also en route, Coast Guard Petty Officer Bobby Nash in Miami said.

Nash said occupants of a plane flying offshore reported hearing a May Day call at 3 p.m. Friday. A voice very briefly stated that a vessel with six people aboard was taking on water 145 miles east of Savannah.

The type of vessel in trouble was not reported, and there was no further communication from it, Nash said.

Nash said at 8:20 p.m. that a C-130 aircraft dispatched from the Coast Guard Air Station in Clearwater, Fla., was over the area where the distress call is believed to have originated. No sign of a vessel in trouble or survivors had been seen, he said.

The Yellowfin was on patrol in the afternoon near Charleston when the Coast Guard diverted it.

At the time the distress call was heard, a slow-moving civilian boat reported it was 75 miles away and would head for the scene, Nash said.

Reach Edward Fennell at 937-5711 or efennell@postandcourier.com.