Officials said in a statement on Twitter that members of the USCG responded to a fire on a 42-foot commercial fishing vessel that was adrift about 2 miles west of Manzanita Beach in Oregon.
The lone boater was apparently rescued before emergency responders arrived. He was found by the USCG aboard the good Samaritan’s boat, watching his ship’s entire loss due to the blaze.
“The vessel has burned down to the waterline and continues to smolder,” the USCG said in a June 18 press release. “It is currently 1 mile west of Nehalem Bay State Park.”
A third individual who was near the scene of the incident told FOX13 the good Samaritan arrived moments before the ship became overwhelmed with flames.
“He got off the boat before it went up really bad,” the unidentified boater who was passing in the area described to the network.
“But yeah, that troller … there’s no stopping that fire. It’s going down,” the fisherman added. “It’s a sad deal watching your boat go down. I guess he’s owned that thing for like 30 years. Yup, bad deal. It’s one of the many things that could go wrong out here.”
The fisherman was brought safely to the shore by the Coast Guard and is reportedly in good condition.
In a video of the fire that was shared on Twitter, a plume of smoke is seen rising into the sky.
Members of the USCG remained on the scene during the blaze and set up a 1,000-yard safety zone around the burning ship.
It is unclear what started the fire. The Coast Guard said incident responders are continuing to monitor the situation.
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