The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a commercial fisherman on Thursday after his boat capsized in the Gulf of Mexico.
The agency received an emergency alert at 8:56 a.m. from the Jenny Lynn, broadcasting its location, according to a news release.
A MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew dispatched from Air Station Clearwater found Robert Heart, 48, clinging to a cooler in the water near the capsized 36-foot (10.9-meter) boat. The Coast Guard reported that 3 to 4-foot (1 to 1.2-meters) seas in the area.
A rescue swimmer rescued Heart and the crew took him to a Tampa hospital for a medical evaluation. His condition was not immediately known.
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On Wednesday, the Coast Guard Cutter Diamondback made contact with the Jenny Lynn when it was dispatched to help 15-year-old boy who had fallen ill onboard, the news release said. They took the boy and his father to the Sector St. Petersburg base.
Heart told the crew that day that the boat was no longer working under its own power and that a sister ship was on its way to help. He declined help from the agency, the news release said.
The Coast Guard is now investigating what happened to the boat.
