Huntington Beach : 6 Persons Rescued After Power Boat Breaks Up

Six passengers aboard a 31-foot cabin cruiser were rescued Monday afternoon two miles off Huntington State Beach after the boat split in two, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said. The vessel later was destroyed in pounding surf north of the Huntington Beach Pier.

Chief Petty Officer George Simpson said a 41-foot rescue boat was called out at 2 p.m. after the passengers on the cruiser, We Go Now, issued a distress signal.

“The boat was split from bow to stern when our ship got there,” Simpson said.

The six people, who were later taken to Alamitos Bay, were not identified. They were initially rescued by lifeguards from Huntington state and city beaches before being transported to Alamitos Bay.

Huntington Beach municipal lifeguard Mike Gifford said the boat was two miles offshore from Newland Street in Huntington Beach when the distress signal was received.

“We forgot about it after we rescued the people. Later, somebody spotted a boat drifting inside the surf line near Golden West (Street). We called the Coast Guard and asked them if they knew anything,” he said.

Gifford said he was told by the Coast Guard that the boat had begun drifting towards shore, but before it reached the pier, it began disintegrating. He said parts of the cruiser were scattered along the shoreline for about two miles.