Three people were rescued after a sailboat caught fire off the coast of Virginia Beach

Emergency personnel try to put a fire on a sailboat off the coast of Cape Henry, Va. early Friday, March 8, 2024. Three people were rescued as the U.S. Coast Guard asked the Virginia Beach Fire Department’s fire boat crews to help respond to the fire about 3 miles (4.8 km) off the coast of Cape Henry around 3:40 a.m., department spokesperson said in an email. (Virginia Beach Fire Department via AP)

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Three people were rescued after a sailboat caught fire off the coast of Virginia Beach early Friday, a fire official said.

The U.S. Coast Guard asked the Virginia Beach Fire Department’s fire boat crews to help respond to the fire about 3 miles (4.8 km) off the coast of Cape Henry around 3:40 a.m., department spokesperson Barbara Morrison said in an email.

A pilot boat picked up the three adults after they jumped into the water from the 75-foot (22.9-meter) sailboat and they were taken to the nearby Virginia pilot house, Morrison said. EMS checked out the patients and no injuries were reported, she said.