A US Coast Guard commander conceded today that his agency was slow in responding to a fishing boat sinking off the coast of Gloucester in January, but said that the vessel went down quickly and the two men who died probably could not have been saved.
The Patriot sank very quickly and with little warning around 1:30 a.m. on Jan 3, according to a statement from Vice Admiral Robert J. Papp Jr., commander of the Coast Guard’s Atlantic Area. The official Coast Guard report says fishermen Matteo Russo and John Orlando drowned immediately, and there was likely nothing that could have been done to save them.
Coast Guard officials said, however, that response efforts should have been quicker, and the agency will take steps to improve its actions. The Coast Guard was notified about a possible problem aboard the 54-foot Patriot at 1:35 a.m, but failed to launch search vessels until nearly 4 a.m., Papp said. A rescue helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod did not arrive until after 5 a.m., he also said.