A violent storm had overturned numerous sailboats that had been taking part in a regatta on late Saturday where the Coast Guard had declared that they had rescued one person from an Alabama bay while the crew searched for at least four more missing people.
The Dauphin Island Regatta in Mobile Bay had more than a 100 sailboats and almost 200 people who had participated in the event when fierce winds swayed through the region. Jeff Collier, Dauphin Island Mayor had said that the death of one person has been confirmed, although the cause of the person’s death is still unknown.
Michael Smith, with the Buccaneer yacht club has stated the “It’s been a very tragic day. We’ve had a lock of breakage, missing people, fatalities.”
Carlos Vegas, a Petty Officer said that the Coast Guard has been assigned to search through the night to look for the missing people. A lot people needed to be pulled out of the water after their boats capsized.
Susan Kangal had been on one of the boats has stated that this was the worst storm that she has ever encountered. “We were probably an inch from capsizing; everybody was ready to jump. I didn’t have a life jacket on,” she said.
The boats had been part of the 57th iteration of the Dauphin Island Race.
The mayor said, “Apparently there were a number of vessels that became distressed, either capsized or what have you. They were scattered anywhere from Dauphin Island Bridge all the way out into Mobile Bay and across to Fort Morgan. It was a wide area.”
