Coast Guard Saves 3 Off South Jersey Coast

CAPE MAY, N.J. (AP) — Coast Guard crews have helped rescue three people from a fishing vessel that was sinking off the southern New Jersey coast.

Crew members aboard the Viking II contacted Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay around 12:45 a.m. Sunday and reported they were taking on water about 80 miles southeast of Cape May.

A Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew lowered a dewatering pump to the Viking II, but it couldn't keep up with the water. An HC-130 aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., then dropped another pump, but the boat's crew couldn't recover it.

Another fishing vessel, the Miss Suzzane, soon arrived and took the Viking II crewmembers aboard. They were transferred to the Cape May-based 87-foot Coast Guard Cutter Ibis and taken ashore.

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