The captain of a Kiribati flagged purse seiner, the Betty C, says he and his crew were forced to abandon their fishing vessel due to a fire on board.
The U.S. Coast Guard sent out a distress message last Saturday for help after getting an emergency beacon alert from the Betty C, which was located in the waters off Jarvis Island.
Another purse seiner, Cape Ferrat, rescued all 21 crew members and took them to American Samoa.
The Betty's captain, Ralph Feliciano, says it was nearly midnight last Friday when the crew told him that the back of the vessel was on fire and they started to put it out with water, but the fire scattered as the wiring was burning.
He told Samoa New says there was also no more water on the boat because the water pump was out.
"So we abandoned the boat into the skiff, the whole crew got off safe and we just stood out there in a small skiff, awaiting for a boat to come, and we waiting in the skiff and watched the boat burn for nine hours."
Captain Feliciano says no one was injured and all crew members are safe.
