HOUSTON — The Coast Guard and a tugboat crew rescued two boaters whose vessel capsized near Freeport, Texas, Friday.

Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston watchstanders received a report at 1:10 p.m. via VHF-FM channel 16 that two men were in the water near the west gate of the Brazos Locks after their 16-to-20-foot pleasure craft capsized. The men were not wearing life jackets.

Watchstanders issued an urgent marine information broadcast and directed the launch of a Coast Guard Station Freeport 29-foot Response Boat–Small crew to assist.

The crew of the nearby 67-foot tugboat Lucas Paul Devall launched their skiff and pulled both boaters out of the water. The Coast Guard boat crew arrived on scene, took aboard the two men, and brought them ashore to emergency medical services personnel waiting at Station Freeport. Both boaters were reportedly in stable condition.

The capsized vessel is tied off to a tree outside the channel, west of the Brazos Locks.

“It is critical for boaters to wear life jackets at all times underway,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua Walker, operations specialist, Sector Houston-Galveston. “Accidents on the water often happen quickly, and it’s difficult to locate and don a life jacket in the middle of an emergency.”