Coast Guard 7th District rescues 20, assists 37 over weekend
MIAMI, FLORIDA - Coast Guard rescue crews saved 20 lives and assisted 37 lives in Coast Guard 7th District Friday through Sunday.
Over the weekend, watchstanders and units across Coast Guard 7th District worked a high volume of search and rescue cases.
Coast Guard Sector Miami watchstanders recorded 5 lives assisted, Coast Guard Sector Key West watchstanders recorded 6 lives saved and 12 lives assisted, Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg watchstanders recorded 1 life saved and 17 lives assisted, Coast Guard Sector Charleston recorded 10 lives saved and 3 lives assisted, and Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville watchstanders recorded 3 lives saved.
"Having fun out on the water is always a priority, but your safety should always come first," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Murray, public affairs specialist at Coast Guard 7th District. "We want to remind boaters to make sure they have the necessary safety equipment including EPIBRs, flares and VHF radios."
The 7th Coast Guard District is one of the nine districts nationwide and has responsibility for all Coast Guard operations in South Carolina, Georgia, the Florida Peninsula, Puerto Rico and the entire Caribbean basin, which includes the U.S. Virgin Islands and 32 other countries and territories. This encompasses an area of 1.8 million square miles and includes the largest concentration of cutter and aircraft in the Coast Guard. District 7 handles one-quarter of all Coast Guard search and rescue cases and two-thirds of all law enforcement cases.
For information on boating safety, visit www.uscgboating.org.