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The U.S. Coast Guard rescued three people after their commercial crab fishing boat lost propulsion and struck a jetty while attempting to transit through the entrance channel in northern California’s Humboldt Bay on Sunday.
Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay watchstanders received the distress call on VHF-FM channel 16 at approximately 6:20 p.m., reporting that the fishing vessel Sunup had propulsion problems and was on the south jetty rocks inside the channel.
Watchstanders dispatched a 47-foot Motor Life Boat crew and a MH-65 Dolphin helicopter to respond. The Motor Life Boat crew arrived on scene at approximately 6:30 p.m. finding the Sunup mostly underwater. Fortunately, the crew retrieved two of the fishermen directly from the sinking boat and pulled the third fisherman from the water.