The News-Courier in Athens, Alabama

February 8, 2010

Coast Guard night rescue of man & dog from island


HORN ISLAND, Miss. (AP) — The Coast Guard says a helicopter crew rescued a man and his dog after the man’s sailing vessel grounded in the dark near Horn Island, Miss.

The Coast Guard’s office in Mobile, Ala., says it was called about 1:30 a.m. Saturday from the island, which is about 10 miles off the Mississippi coast.

A news release says the man had paddled with his dog from the sailboat to the barrier island in a kayak that he keeps on board, and called the Coast Guard from the island.

It says the station in Pascagoula sent a 41-foot rescue boat, but the water around Horn Island was too shallow for the boat to get close. The helicopter flew out from New Orleans.