Multimedia Release: Coast Guard locates Astoria fishing boat crew after five days at sea

ASTORIA, Ore. - A Coast Guard 47-foot motor lifeboat crew from Station Siuslaw River tows the disabled fishing vessel Dahlia to Florence, Ore., Friday July 8, 2011. The crew of the Dahlia was adrift for five days after their ship's battery lost power. Coast Guard photo by Group/Air Station North Bend, Ore.

ASTORIA, Ore. - A 47-foot motor lifeboat from Station Siuslaw River tows the fishing vessel Dahlia to Florence, Ore. The two men aboard the vessel were adrift five days after losing power to their ship's battery. Coast Guard video by Group/Air Station North Bend.

ASTORIA, Ore. — The Coast Guard located the crew of an Astoria-based fishing boat, Friday, after the vessel was adrift at sea for five days.

The two men aboard the 40-foot fishing vessel Dahlia were fishing when the boat's battery died Monday.

Eugene, Ore., 911 dispatchers contacted Coast Guard Sector Columbia River after a woman called to report her son and grandson sent her a text message stating they were aboard the disabled fishing vessel and adrift 35 miles from Astoria.

With no other information to go on and several attempts to reach the vessel via radio transmission, the Coast Guard launched a HC-130J Hercules search plane crew from Sacramento, Calif., to locate the vessel. The C-130 crew searched an area of approximately 10,000 square miles throughout the Thursday evening. An HH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Group/Air Station North Bend, Ore., an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Astoria and the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Fir joined the search Friday morning.

Coast Guard Group/Air Station North Bend made contact with the men aboard the Dahlia via radio channel 22 at approximately 8 a.m., and dispatched a helicopter crew to the scene with a portable radio for the men to use. Meanwhile, a 47-foot motor lifeboat crew from Station Siuslaw River, in Florence, Ore., was sent to the disabled vessel. Once on scene, the motor lifeboat crew put the Dahlia under tow and returned to Florence.

Neither man was injured and both were in good health.

Please contact Petty Officer Shawn Eggert at 503-861-6237 or Lt. Jason Reeder at 541-756-9669 for questions regarding this case.

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