Five people, including two teenagers, were rescued after their boat sank in Prince William Sound Sunday morning, forcing them to swim to a nearby island.
The U.S. Coast Guard in Anchorage received a phone call at 6 a.m. Sunday from someone who had been aboard a 32-foot boat near Naked Island, "reporting they had abandoned ship and swam to shore as their boat began to sink," wrote Petty Officer 1st Class Bill Colclough of the U.S. Coast Guard in a statement Sunday.
It was not immediately clear Sunday why the boat sank. The 32-foot vessel is "currently submerged with the bow above the water line and anchored," Colclough said.
The Coast Guard sent an "urgent marine information" broadcast message to vessels in the area, which led the 33-foot boat Swee' Pea to respond and bring the five people aboard. A Coast Guard response boat stationed in Valdez later transferred the passengers to Whittier.
No injures were reported.