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Two men and dog rescued by PA Coast Guard helicopter crew off Whidbey Island

Published 12:01 am Tuesday, February 26, 2013

By Peninsula Daily News

An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Air Station Port Angeles hoists a man from an 18-foot vessel off Whidbey Island on Monday. U.S. Coast Guard
An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Air Station Port Angeles hoists a man from an 18-foot vessel off Whidbey Island on Monday. U.S. Coast Guard

EDITOR’S NOTE — To see video of the rescue (appropriate browser plug-in required), click on http://cgvi.uscg.mil/media/main.php?g2_itemId=1893646 .

PORT ANGELES — A Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued two men and a dog from a small boat blown away from a Whidbey Island shore and buffeted by 45 mph winds and 5- to 8-foot swells.

Petty Officer Nate Littlejohn said a MH-65 Dolphin helicopter dispatched to the scene Monday morning from the Port Angeles Coast Guard station found the men and dog adrift in the 18-foot boat about a mile off Long Point in Penn Cove with no engine, sail or other means of propulsion.

The helicopter crew lowered a rescue swimmer and hoisted both people and the dog to safety.

Littlejohn said the men were checked at Whidbey General Hospital in Coupeville and released.

The men said they had been adrift in the choppy waters for about two hours after being blown away from the shore while trying to trailer the boat.

The Coast Guard did not identify the men. There was no report on what happened to the boat.

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