14 Sightseers Are Rescued From Island

Fourteen sightseers who were stranded on Anacapa Island for more than five hours Sunday were all rescued, Coast Guard officials said Monday.

Search-and-rescue teams retrieved 10 people with an inflatable life raft, and two adults and two infants were airlifted via helicopter, authorities said.

“The tide was coming in, so it was safer for the children to use the helicopter,” said Howard Golub of the Coast Guard Channel Islands station. No one was injured in the rescue mission, which was concluded about 10:30 p.m. Sunday.

The group of friends and family from Los Angeles was on a pleasure cruise in two private boats when engine trouble struck one of the vessels about 2 p.m. Sunday, Golub said. Shortly after that, both boats ran aground near the island’s jagged shoreline, he said.

People have been stranded on Anacapa before, but Sunday’s incident was unusual because so many people were involved, Golub said.

In addition to the helicopter, which came from Los Angeles, the rescue teams used a 41-foot boat out of Channel Islands Harbor and--for the first time--an 87-foot patrol boat from Santa Barbara.