Fishing Crew Flees Boat Ablaze Off Palos Verdes

Coast Guard personnel took more than six hours to control a fire that borke out Sunday morning on a fishing trawler 18 miles south of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, authorities said. Ten crew members abandoned the “Luck Seven” and drifted in two life rafts for about 30 minutes before they were picked up by a passing fishing boat, Coast Guard Lt. John Dagostino said.

The 96-foot trawler was carrying eels packed in peat moss, Dagostino said.

The amount of damage done to the boat and the cause of the fire was not immediately determined, the lieutenant said. Authorities did not identify the boat’s owner.