Los Alamitos Man, 2 Others Rescued After Boat Sinks : Fishermen: The 54-foot commercial vessel’s hull split in choppy waters off Santa Rosa Island.

A Los Alamitos fisherman and two crew members were rescued from choppy waters off Santa Rosa Island on Monday night after the hull of their commercial fishing boat split and the vessel sank, the U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday.

Los Alamitos resident Joseph C. Luz, 42, the skipper of his parents’ 54-foot San Pedro Boy, radioed for help about 5:15 p.m. after the boat began taking on water, Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Brenda Toledo said.

Although the three were in the water for about an hour and a half, nobody was injured, Toledo said. The crew was airlifted to Santa Barbara Municipal Airport at 9:22 p.m. They spent the night in a Santa Barbara motel recovering from the ordeal, and returned to Orange County on Tuesday, said Luz’s mother, Esther Luz.

“I thank the good Lord that he wasn’t hurt,” she said from her home in Rossmoor. She said her son and the two crew members, who were not identified, had been out on the family’s commercial fishing boat for the past three days, searching for swordfish.

Toledo said the fishing vessel Midori was in the area when it overheard a May Day conversation between the San Pedro and another fishing vessel.

When Midori crew members were unable to contact the distressed crew, they radioed the Coast Guard at 5:20 p.m., Toledo said.

The Coast Guard sent out a rescue helicopter from San Francisco as well as a jet from the Los Angeles area to search for survivors in the 25-foot swells. The wind speed at the time the boat sank was a blustery 40 knots, Toledo said.

The three crew members were located by a Coast Guard jet at 6:50 p.m., Toledo said. Luz said the boat sank slowly and that he and his crew were able to remain on the boat until they were saved.

When the hovering helicopter got close to the life raft, Toledo said, a rescue swimmer was lowered into the ocean to strap a line to Luz. After Luz was hauled up to the chopper, the two others, who had hopped into a life raft, were hoisted aboard.

Toledo said it was not immediately known why the hull split, but added that the boat, which sank about 60 miles west of the Channel Islands, was tossed about in unusually choppy water.