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Coast Guard rescues boat captain found clinging to cooler in Gulf of Mexico: “Nightmare scenario”
A boat captain rode out Hurricane Milton overnight in the Gulf of Mexico before he was found clinging to a cooler around 30 miles offshore and rescued by helicopter Thursday afternoon, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement.
“This man survived in a nightmare scenario for even the most experienced mariner,” said Lt. Cmdr. Dana Grady, Sector St. Petersburg’s command center chief. “To understand the severity of the hurricane conditions, we estimate he experienced approximately 75-90 mph winds, 20-25 foot seas, for an extended period of time to include overnight. He survived because of a life jacket, his emergency position indicating locator beacon, and a cooler.”
The man was the captain of a fishing vessel that broke down Monday about 20 miles off John’s Pass, according to the Coast Guard. The boat was left at sea while salvage arrangements were being made.
Around noon Wednesday, the boat’s owner reported to the Coast Guard that the captain went back out to the boat before dawn to make repairs and hadn’t been heard from since.
“Watchstanders were able to make radio contact with the captain who reported the rudder was fouled with a line and became disabled during his transit back to port,” the statement said.
Conditions deteriorated as the storm approached, and the Coast Guard instructed the captain to put on a life jacket and stay with the vessel’s locator beacon. Authorities lost communication with the captain around 6:45 p.m. Wednesday.
He was rescued around 1:30 p.m. Thursday, roughly 30 miles off Longboat Key, Florida, and taken to Tampa General Hospital for medical care.
One person died and several others were injured Thursday when a chemical was released at a Houston-area industrial plant, a Texas sheriff said.
Authorities warned nearby residents to stay inside and close doors and windows.
One of the people injured was transported to a hospital by a helicopter, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez wrote on the social platform X. City officials in Pasadena, a Houston suburb, told residents on social media that hydrogen sulfide had been released at a Pemex facility.
Television news crews showed multiple ambulances and emergency vehicles at the scene.
Gonzalez said preliminary information indicated it was a “chemical release” but did not elaborate.
In a statement obtained by CBS affiliate KHOU, Pemex said that the release was first reported at 4:40 p.m. local time at one of its “operating units.”
“The incident is contained to our site and has been isolated,” the statement read. The company added that personnel from several government agencies had responded.
The plant is located in the suburb of Deer Park, where city officials issued a shelter-in-place order for nearby residents “out of precaution.”
In a post to social media late Thursday night, the Deer Park Office of Emergency Management said that the shelter-in-place order had been lifted. It said that Harris County agencies were “reporting no hazardous chemicals within the community.”
Houston is the nation’s petrochemical heartland and is home to a cluster of refineries and plants.
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