U.S. Coast Guard News

Helicopter with 4 on Board Crashes in Gulf of Mexico

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard spent hours Thursday searching the waters off Louisiana for four people on board a helicopter that crashed while departing an oil platform. The helicopter’s pilot and three oil workers went into …

`Smooth Travel’ Observed Before Ship Capsized Off Georgia

SAVANNAH, Ga. — A tugboat captain who helped push the ill-fated cargo ship Golden Ray from the docks as it left a Georgia seaport said Monday he observed only “smooth travel” before the giant vessel overturned. Clifton Gorden was the …

Explosion Threat Eases at Burning Navy Warship in San Diego

SAN DIEGO — A fire aboard a U.S. warship moved away from fuel tanks, easing the threat of an explosion or a million-gallon oil spill in the San Diego harbor, but it was too early to say whether the vessel …

Coast Guard Rescues 14 From Sinking Boats in Washington, Michigan

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued 14 people from sinking boats last week — 10 from northern Michigan’s Grand Traverse Bay and four from off the coast of Washington state. In Michigan, the Coast Guard said it dispatched a rescue boat …

Judge Questions Plan to Remove Capsized Ship in Huge Chunks

SAVANNAH, Ga. — A federal judge Friday ordered attorneys for the U.S. Coast Guard and a maritime salvage company to answer detailed questions about plans to remove an overturned cargo ship on the Georgia coast by sawing it into eight …

Records: Boat on Which 34 Died Exempt From Safety Rules

LOS ANGELES — The diving boat that caught fire on Labor Day off Southern California, killing 34 people, was among hundreds of small vessels exempted by the U.S. Coast Guard from stricter safety rules designed to make it easier for …

NTSB: Coast Guard Ignored Duck Boat Safety Proposals

ST. LOUIS — Federal transportation safety investigators criticized the U.S. Coast Guard Wednesday for ignoring suggestions over nearly two decades to improve tourist duck boats, changes they say might have prevented last year’s Missouri accident that killed 17 people. The …

How to Sink the Pirates Plaguing West Africa: Viewpoint

Remember those Somali pirates? Earlier this decade, they brazenly hijacked giant oil tankers, demanded ransoms in the millions of dollars, and gave Tom Hanks yet another chance to play the everyman overcoming a life-defining crisis. Now, thanks to a multinational …

Mississippi River Reaches Record Level in Northern Illinois

The Mississippi River has reached record high levels in the area of Rock Island, Illinois, as melting heavy snowpack coupled with rain has caused widespread flooding, a national hydrologist said on Friday. Heavy rain in the central United States brought …