VIDEO: Overdue boater found after clinging to overturned vessel for hours


U.S. Coast Guard video
YARMOUTH
– On Tuesday, Yarmouth Division of Natural Resources (DNR) Officers were notified and dispatched by Yarmouth Police Dept. at approximately 1:09 AM for the report of an overdue 10′ aluminum vessel being operated by a single male.

Officers were informed while enroute that Arthur Moscufo, 32, of Medford, had last been seen around 10:00 AM the previous morning when he told his girlfriend that he was going out in Bass River to test the boat. His vehicle and trailer were later located at Bass River Beach and the missing individual was nowhere to be found.

At approximately 2:09 AM, multiple different agencies including Yarmouth DNR, United States Coast Guard Station Chatham, Yarmouth Fire, Dennis Fire, Hyannis Fire, and personnel with Harwich Harbormaster Dept., were conducting shore-line searches from Chatham to Hyannis and up and down Bass River. A USCG helicopter from Joint Base Cape was also conducting searches in conjunction with the agencies involved.

At approximately 3:45 AM, The USCG Helicopter spotted what appeared to be Moscufo atop an overturned vessel 2-3 miles south of Bass River and waving his arms. Moments later a 42′ USCG Response Boat was able to locate and rescue that individual from the vessel and he was subsequently transferred to a Yarmouth rescue boat and then to shore where an awaiting Yarmouth ambulance took the male to Cape Cod Hospital.

Moscufo remains in the Intensive Care Unit where he is expected to survive.

DNR Officers spoke briefly to the individual. He described an unimaginable course of events. His boat capsized at approximately 3:30 PM Monday, putting him by himself in the elements for over 12 hours. There he climbed on top of his capsized boat and remained until spotted by a USCG over 12 hours later.

Yarmouth DNR is elated and revealed that this did not turn out differently. We thank all agencies involved for the extensive and exhaustive search that resulted in a successful rescue with very poor odds.

This photo provided by YFD Station 3

Media release and upper photo furnished by Yarmouth DNR

Yarmouth Police release on rescue:
On Monday, February 20, 2017 at approximately 10:00 PM a woman from off-Cape called the Yarmouth Police Department asking to check Wilbur Park on Bass River for a vehicle with boat trailer belonging to her boyfriend who had launched his new boat, a 10′ aluminum boat with a single outboard engine, out of Wilbur Park earlier in the day around 11:00 AM.  Her boyfriend had not contacted her since then and she was concerned.

Members of the Yarmouth Police Department immediately checked the area but did not locate his vehicle.  Patrol officers also checked the man’s local residence in South Yarmouth where he stores his boat but no one was home at the residence and the boat was not in the driveway. 

Several attempts were made to contact the man via cell phone but it went straight to voicemail. 

The woman was advised of the information and she stated she would give him more time to return home and said she would call back if needed.

At approximately 12:30 AM this morning, the woman called back to request officers check a different location located at Bass River Beach as she believed he may have launched his boat out of there instead of Wilbur Park. 

Members of the Patrol Force immediately responded to the boat launch area at Bass River Beach and located the pickup truck along with an empty trailer in the parking lot.

Patrol officers began checking every inlet, beach, and water access point along Bass River and the surrounding area yet where unable to locate any sign the man or his boat.  The Yarmouth Police department notified numerus agencies including the United States Coast Guard, Yarmouth Department of Natural Resources, Yarmouth Fire Department, Dennis Police Department, Dennis Fire Department, Harwich Fire Department, and the Hyannis Fire Department. 

Several boats from the various agencies were launched along with a United State Coast Guard helicopter. 

At approximately 4:20 AM, the USCG helicopter located the man adrift on his overturned boat outside the mouth of the Bass River.  The Coast Guard transported him safely back to shore where he was subsequently transported by Yarmouth Fire Department ambulance to Cape Cod Hospital for examination and further treatment and is expected to fully recover. 

The Yarmouth Police Department commends all agencies involved and is very thankful the man was found alive.

YPD update: Yarmouth Police report that they just spoke by phone with the 36-year-old Medford man who was rescued at 4:20 AM this morning after being adrift at sea overnight for over 13 hours.

His 14 foot boat took on water and sank very quickly yesterday afternoon around 3:20PM. He lost his cell phone in the water and did the best he could to keep his life jacket on and cling to the boat and wait for help.

He is doing very well and is grateful to his girlfriend for reporting him missing and everyone who came together to find and rescue him including all members of the police, fire, and natural resources departments; as well the doctors and nurses at Cape Cod Hospital.

He is expected to fully recover and be released sometime within the next 24 hours.

He hopes to visit and thank everyone in person in the near future.

YPD thanks everyone who helped save a life…

Yarmouth Fire release on rescue:
At approximately 10:00 PM Monday, Yarmouth Police Department received a call from a woman reporting that her boyfriend is overdue from a boating trip. Yarmouth Police responded to a local address in search of the missing man, not finding anyone at that address they started searching Yarmouth boat access parking areas. Finding the missing man’s pickup truck and boat trailer at Bass River/Smugglers Beach they called the Yarmouth Fire Department as they conducted shore based searches along beaches and the Bass River.

At about this same time the USCG asked for a Marine Task Force; Yarmouth Fire Boat, Yarmouth Department of Natural Resources, Dennis Fire Boat, Harwich Fire Boat and Hyannis Fire Boat all responded to search Bass River. The USCG responded with their 42’ Rigid Hull Boat and a helicopter.

Captain Kittila responded from Yarmouth HQ in Special Operations Vehicle, Squad 50 and established a command post. After a few hours of this multi-agency search the USCG helicopter reported spotting an overturned boat with someone waving back to them. This was approximately 4:20 AM.

The USCG Boat, Dennis Fire Boat and Harwich Fire Boat responded to the overturned boater. The USCG retrieved the severely hypothermic man and with a paramedic from the Dennis Fire Boat transported the patient to the Bass River boat ramp where Yarmouth Fire’s smaller boat transported the patient to the shore and the awaiting ambulance. The patient was transported to CCH and is listed in good condition in the intensive care unit.

Harwich Fire Boat towed the small overturned boat back to the boat ramp where Yarmouth Department of Natural Resources recovered it using a flat board trailer.

This boater was test driving a small aluminum boat he had purchased, he left port around 11:30 AM and according to him he capsized at 3:30 PM and stayed clinging to his overturned boat until he was rescued at 4:20 AM. A few more hours in the elements and the story would be much different, this response was successful because all agencies worked together to make this rescue.

The Yarmouth Department of Natural Resources and the USCG want to remind boaters to use a Floating Plan. A Float Plan is a written statement (as by a skipper) of the details of an intended voyage (as of a boat or watercraft) filed with a relative, neighbor or other person on shore; a document that specifically describes the vessel, equipment, crew, and itinerary of a planned voyage.

U.S. Coast Guard release:
The Coast Guard rescued a 36-year-old man this morning after his 10-foot aluminum boat capsized in Nantucket Sound.

The man’s girlfriend notified the Coast Guard at around 1:20 AM that he had not returned home after venturing out on the Bass River earlier in the day.

A 42-foot rescue boat crew from Coast Guard Station Chatham launched at around 2 AM to search for the man and was joined by an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew at around 3 AM.

In addition to the Coast Guard assets, the Harwich harbormaster, Yarmouth harbormaster, Dennis harbormaster, Yarmouth fire department, and Hyannis fire department responded and searched.

At around 4 AM, the Jayhawk helicopter crew located the man clinging to the hull of his capsized boat approximately two and a half miles southwest of the Bass River in Nantucket Sound wearing a life jacket, shirt, jeans and sneakers.

 The 42-foot rescue boat crew from Station Chatham pulled him from the 37-degree water and brought him to the pier where emergency medical services was waiting.

 “I cannot stress enough the importance of checking the water temperature before going on the water in the winter months,” said Operations Specialist Second Class Michelle Crocker, of Sector Southeastern New England. “Additionally, the support provided by our inter-agency partners from the Cape Cod Mutual Response System ensured the successful outcome of this overdue case.”



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