Family of Four Rescued After Boat Strikes Rocks in the Thimbles

Update 4:09 p.m.

Around 1:30 p.m. today, Marine 2 rescue boat was dispatched to buoy 4 between Trap Rock Dock and on the report of a vessel in distress. When crews arrived they found a 2008 40-foot Thunderbird pleasure boat taking on water; the victims, a husband and wife and their two children, a boy 12 and girl 15, had already found refuge. The children had been transported from the sinking boat to a Stony Creek resident’s boat who came to aid the victims and the parents were on an off-duty fireman’s boat who was also in the area and came to help.  The family dog, a springer spaniel, was also among those rescued. No one was injured. Names of the victims are not being released at this time.

Branford Fire Captain Tim Judd was first on scene with his crew and transported all victims, dog included, back to. The family, he said, is from Pennsylvania and was traveling to Rhode Island from Port Jefferson, NY when their boat struck the rocks in Branford.

Judd said the skipper of the boat is a 30-year veteran of nautical navigation. He did not believe the Thimbles', at-time treacherous, rock patterns were completely unfamiliar to her.

Boat rescues, said Judd, “have been happening more frequently than normal.” He said crews have been out to Short Beach as well as the Thimble Island area this summer rescuing boaters.  “I can’t place the blame on the Thimble Islands,” he said of today’s wreck.

The family will be staying at an area hotel until their boat can be fixed. It has been towed to an area facility for repair. Judd said the boat did not sustain damage to the fuel containers and the accident posed no environmental threats.

Sea Tow and the U.S. Coast Guard were also on scene today.  

Original Story Posted at 2 p.m.

has dispatched Marine 2 rescue boat to the scene of a possible vessel in distress.

Scanner reports indicate there are four victims who have been removed from the damaged vessel and are being transported back to shore. No condition on the victims is available at this time.

The Sound has also reported a dog was on board the boat. 

Stay tuned to Branford Patch for updates.