Two people who were on board a 48-foot-long yacht when it caught fire and sank off the coast of Georgetown on Saturday were rescued and brought to safety by local fishermen.

Ryan Koroknay, a spokesman for the Coast Guard, said there were two people on board the Titan when it caught fire and sank near Seguin Island around noon.

Both people jumped into the ocean to escape the flames.

After receiving a call for help, the Coast Guard issued an urgent marine information broadcast, which is a signal to other vessels that there are mariners in distress, Koroknay said.

At least two lobster boats, including My Three Blondes, responded to the scene, along with a 47-foot motor life boat out of the Coast Guard station in South Portland. The lobster boats arrived first and were able to pull both people out of the ocean. By the time the Coast Guard crew arrived, the yacht had sunk.

“Kudos can’t speak highly enough of those fishermen who were out there and rescued these boaters,” said Koroknay, who also serves as the Coast Guard’s chief of incident management. “We were very fortunate that these fishing vessels were in that area.”

Koroknay said the two people on the Titan – he didn’t know their names – were brought to shore uninjured. He does not know who owns the vessel or where the yacht was headed when it caught fire. The Coast Guard is investigating the sinking.

Deb Kremer was aboard one of the fishing vessels that responded to the fire after hearing calls for help on the vessel’s radio.

Kremer told WMTW-TV that the yacht was fully engulfed in flames when the fishing vessels arrived and that it burned for about 40 minutes before it sank in about 200 feet of water.

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