Six Rescued, Dozen Missing After Lift Boat Capsizes in Gulf of Mexico

April 14, 2021

A Coast Guard Station Grand Isle 45-foot Respone Boat-Medium boatcrew heads toward a capsized 175-foot commerical lift boat April 13, 2021 searching for people in the water 8 miles south of Grand Isle, Louisiana. The Coast Guard and multiple good Samaritan vessels responded to the capsized vessel and searched for multiple missing people in the water. (U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Coast Guard Cutter Glenn Harris)

Six people were rescued near the coast of Louisiana after a commercial [lift boat] capsized about eight miles off Port Fourchon on the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Coast Guard said late Tuesday.

About a dozen people are still missing after the 234-foot commercial lift vessel [reportedly Seacor Power] capsized in a storm, according to local media reports citing authorities. There was no immediate response from the coast guard to a Reuters request for comment on the number of missing people and potential casualties.

"We're still searching for more people," a spokesman for the Coast Guard 8th District told the New York Times.

The accident led to a large rescue effort from the coast guard and civilians after distress calls were made on Tuesday evening. Two cutters, two boats, a helicopter and four civilian vessels have been deployed for the rescue.

There were widespread reports of high winds, with some hail and flooding in southeastern Louisiana, according to the National Weather Service. There is a threat of severe weather overnight in the region and a flash flood watch is in effect till Thursday morning.

Eighteen people had been on board the vessel before it capsized, Seacor Marine, the transportation company that owns the vessel, told the NYT.

(Reporting by Aakriti Bhalla in Bengaluru, Editing by William Maclean)

Image caption:

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Glenn Harris, a pre-commissioned 154-foot Fast Reponse Cutter, pulls a person from the water April 13, 2021 after a 175-foot commercial lift boat capsized 8 miles south of Grand Isle, Louisiana. The Coast Guard and multiple good Samaritan vessels responded to the capsized vessel and searched for multiple missing people in the water. (U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Coast Guard Cutter Glenn Harris)

The lift boat
The lift boat in question is owned by Seacor Marine, which in March 2020 acquired the remaining 28% of the equity interests in the lift boat company Falcon Global Holdings, consolidating its ownership of 14 lift boats serving the oil and gas industry in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia.

Liftboats provide a self-propelled platform to perform support for wind farm installation and maintenance, and services to oil and gas platforms and structures, including platform construction, inspection, maintenance, and removal, well intervention and work-over, well production enhancement, well plug and abandonment, pipeline installation, and maintenance and diving operations.

VesselsValue, a company that provides valuations and detailed information on all sorts of vessels, including lift boats, shared the following info on the Seacor Power with Offshore Engineer:

Source: VesselsValue