NEWPORT, Ore. (KATU) — A whale watching tour off the Oregon coast near Newport turned into a rescue operation.
The captain of the 62-foot Discovery issued a mayday on early Wednesday afternoon when smoke started pouring out of the vessel, which was near the Yaquina Bay jetties.
The U.S. Coast Guard was called in to rescue the 49 passengers and crew.
“We initially launched one boat, and then once we received a little bit more information about the nature of the situation, we opted to launch two boats just due to the number of people on board, kind of preparing to pull all 49 people off if we needed to,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Jake Boran.
He said when rescue crews arrived, they saw a lot of smoke but no flames.
The Coast Guard towed the boat back to shore.
No one was hurt.
Fran Mathews, the owner of Marine Discovery Tours, said in an email that the cause of the smoke was an exhaust system failure that filled the engine room with exhaust. Mathews said the problem has been fixed and the vessel is ready to launch again.