State Police Marine Unit Rescues Four From Sinking Boat off Peddocks Island

At approximately 4:50 PM today a mayday was broadcast from a pleasure boat that was taking on water off the north side of Peddocks Island in Boston Harbor.

Massachusetts State Police Marine Unit vessel Marine 26, crewed by Troopers Benjamin Zahner and Brendan Heath, which was on patrol in the area, responded immediately to the latitude and longitude broadcast by the boater, an area between Quarantine Rocks and Sculpin Ledge Channel.

The boater then broadcast that he and the three other people on the boat had put on life jackets and were abandoning ship. MSP Marine 26 reached the sinking boat, a 41-foot cabin cruiser, just as the four boaters had entered the water.

Troopers Zahner and Heath pulled the four boaters from the water, assisted by State Police Marine Unit Sgt. Michael Pedersen and a Boston Police vessel. The four boaters — two men and two women, all adults — were transferred onto MSP Marine 15 crewed by Sgt. Pedersen and transported to a Charlestown marina. Boston EMS evaluated one boater for a small laceration; there were no other injuries.

The cause of the cabin cruiser taking on water has not been determined as of this time. The vessel was recovered by Towboat US.

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