SABINE PASS, Texas — The Coast Guard rescued four people from a tugboat that was capsizing in Sabine Pass Friday.
Shortly after 5:30 a.m., Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston command center watchstanders were made aware that the crew of a 71-foot tugboat called the Sea Cypress needed help.
The crew was capsizing while moored near the mouth of the Sabine Pass channel, according to a Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston release.
Watchstanders directed the launch of a 45-foot response boat-medium crew from Coast Guard Station Sabine. The 45-foot response boat-medium is a multi-mission capable boat that can respond rapidly to Coast Guard missions, according to the U.S. Coast Guards website.
A Sabine pilot boat operator who was at the scene said two members of the Sea Cypress crew used a handheld torch to cut a hole in the bulkhead and free two crewmen who were trapped in the partially submerged boat's galley.
The responding Coast Guard crew took the four tugboat crewmen onto their boat and brought them on land to Station Sabine. The four men were later taken to the Southeast Texas Medical Center in Port Arthur in stable condition.
"We are glad that the tugboat crew was able to think outside the box and that we were able to quickly get all four of them to safety," Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Ian Murray, search and rescue mission coordinator, Sector Houston-Galveston said.
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