Release Date: 09/09/2015
A Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Division agent rescued eight people from the Gulf of Mexico on Sept. 6 in Vermilion Parish.
Sgt. Nicholas Guillory received a call from dispatch around 1 p.m. on Sept. 6 of a vessel that recently launched at Rollover Landing near Pecan Island taking on water. He made contact with the vessel occupants who said they travelled south in Rollover Bayou and were in the Gulf of Mexico when a storm kicked up producing high seas and lots of wind.
Sgt. Guillory was able to get to the location where Rollover Bayou met the Gulf of Mexico in the pouring rain when he spotted one individual in the mud up to his waist. He was able to pull him from the mud and get him in his boat.
Sgt. Guillory then noticed two other individuals in a vessel that was taking on water and managed to get those two in his boat. He also towed their boat safely back to the inside part of the canal and out of the rough seas of the Gulf of Mexico.
Knowing that the three individuals he brought safely to the inside waters were not the original people that needed help, Sgt. Guillory went back into the Gulf of Mexico. He traveled about a mile west and found two more vessels in trouble. One of the vessels was completely beached and the other was completely under water.
Sgt. Guillory was able to grab two of the individuals from the sunken vessel and put them in his vessel. The three people from the beached vessel were on the beach.
Sgt. Guillory then hooked his vessel up to the beached vessel and was able to pull the vessel back into the water. The vessel started up and he put two of the people on land in that vessel. Sgt. Guillory then towed the sunken vessel to a position to get enough water out so that it could float enough to be towed to inside waters. The last person on shore got in Sgt. Guillory’s vessel.
In total Sgt. Guillory was able to rescue eight people and recover three vessels safely and get them back to the boat launch in Rollover Bayou.
For more information, contact Adam Einck at 225-765-2465 or
aeinck@wlf.la.gov.