A second person has died after a boat sank off Leadbetter Point on Friday, July 11, reported Lieutenant Ryan Kelly of the Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol on Wednesday. Four people had taken the 24-foot skipjack-style boat on a fishing trip when the engine quit about two miles off the point and the captain noticed the boat was taking on water.
The fishing boat sank within minutes of the mayday call, but three rescue boats were heading quickly toward them — two from Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol and the Shearwater, a NOAA research vessel with four crew and a contingent of UCSB students on board. A crewmember from the Shearwater jumped into the water with fins and flotation devices to bring a 6-year-old girl, two unconscious adults, and a fourth adult to the waiting ships. None could swim, said Kelly, and only the girl was wearing a life vest.
CPR commenced on the unconscious adults aboard the boats and on land as they were taken to Cottage Hospital. Kelly said both victims died on July 11 but that the Coroner’s Bureau only just informed Harbor Patrol about the second death after notifying them of the first death on Monday…