Sailor Rescued Off Va., Second Sailor Dead

One of two Sailors who abandoned their boat in rough seas hundreds of miles off the Virginia coast was found Monday and pulled to safety on a merchant ship, the Coast Guard said. The other sailor was found dead. Lochlin Reidy, 58, from Woodbridge, Conn., was spotted about 4 a.m. after a Coast Guard plane saw a strobe light in the ocean about 400 miles east of Virginia Beach, said Officer Krys Hannum, a Coast Guard spokeswoman. He was taken aboard the merchant vessel Sakura Express, a Panamanian-flagged tanker that was helping with the search. His condition was not immediately available. Later Monday, Thomas Tighe, 65, from Patterson, N.Y., was found dead in the water. His body recovered by the Sakura Express crew, the Coast Guard said. The three other sailors on the boat told authorities Tighe and Reidy got into a life raft after the 45-foot sailboat began taking on water from 16- to 20-foot seas. The life raft broke away, and it was found empty late Sunday. The three who stayed on the boat were rescued Sunday night and airlifted to Nantucket, Mass. Kelly Newlin, a Coast Guard spokeswoman in Boston, said the three had no major injuries and were in good condition Monday at Nantucket Cottage Hospital. The five were on a voyage from Bridgeport, Conn., to Bermuda when they encountered the severe weather, including wind topping 35 mph. The Coast Guard picked up their electronic distress signal around 6 a.m. Sunday. The three sailors rescued Sunday were identified as Ronald Burd, from Dover, N.H., Christopher Ferrer, from Sterling, Mass., and Kathleen Gilchrist, from Bloomfield, N.J. The Coast Guard also rescued six people Saturday and Sunday off North Carolina after nasty weather battered their sailboats.