US Coast Guard uses mattress to stop boat from flooding, rescue 3 people and a dog off Florida coast

By Averi Kremposky

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    CLEARWATER, Florida (WESH) — Coast Guard crews rescued three people and one dog on Monday morning after reports that the 47-foot vessel they were on was taking on water.

Crews say they got the call around 5:30 a.m. and were able to spot the boat 35 miles west of Clearwater around 6:45 a.m.

Aircrews deployed rescue swimmers to transport passengers from their vessel to the response boat and also transferred two crewmen with a Coast Guard P6 pump to dewater the affected vessel.

The boat crew says the water was coming into the vessel through a broken window. Using a mattress and boat hooks, the crew was able to plug the window and stop the flow of water.

The crew transported the vessel and passengers to Clearwater Harbor Marina around 6:30 p.m.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, no injuries were reported.

“Coast Guard crews constantly train for shipboard emergencies to mitigate flooding, and part of that training includes improvising in emergency situations,” a Coast Guard operations officer said in a statement. “When we saw water filling the lower cabin area through a hole that big, improvise is exactly what we did. I couldn’t be prouder of all our crews today for upholding the highest Coast Guard standard and ensuring the best possible outcome.”

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