When a 54-foot powerboat caught fire off Ocean City, Maryland on Thursday, multiple other boaters stepped in to help.
The U.S. Coast Guard says several boaters called the command center to report that cruising vessel No Filter was engulfed in flames three miles south of Ocean City.
The boaters aboard No Filter also hailed the Coast Guard on VHF Channel 16, notifying them that a fire had broken out and all six people were abandoning ship.
The crew of a 170-foot menhaden-harvesting boat, Smugglers Point, heard the distress calls while returning from a day of fishing off the coast of New Jersey. They changed course and safely pulled all six people, who were wearing life jackets, aboard.
“We were in the right place at the right time,” said Roger Smith, First Mate on the Smuggler’s Point, and a licensed captain. “We were half a mile away at the most.”
Coast Guard Station Ocean City crew members arrived shortly after, transferred the rescued boaters onto their boat and brought them back to shore.
No one was injured, and the burned-out boat’s owner stayed behind to make plans for towing and salvage operations.
-Meg Walburn Viviano
