A 32-foot Prowler Cat brand power catamaran went hard aground at West Cay near Botany Bay, St. Thomas, at 11:30 p.m. Saturday, U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Ricardo Castrodad said Sunday.
Castrodad did not have the name of the boat or its owner.
“There were seven people on board,” Castrodad said, adding that the boat’s captain sent out a mayday call.
He said the Coast Guard sent a boat from its St. Thomas station and a helicopter from its Air Station Borinquen on the west side of Puerto Rico to the scene but a good Samaritan boater was first to arrive and rescued the passengers. He said the boater took them to Hull Bay, where passengers were transferred to Schneider Regional Medical Center.
Castrodad did not have information on the extent of the injuries or if all passengers went to the hospital.
He said there were no pollution problems associated with the accident.
The Coast Guard spokesman said that as of Sunday morning, the boat’s owner was making arrangements to get his partially submerged boat off the rocks. The boat was towed into harbor Sunday afternoon.
According to Castrodad, the people in the boat were returning to the U.S. Virgin Islands from a fishing tournament in Puerto Rico.
