Father and son and their cat rescued from sailboat taking on water off Sarasota

An Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon, or EPIRB, alerted the Coast Guard of the emergency on Monday morning.

Two people and a cat were rescued from a sailboat that was taking on water about 34 miles off Sarasota on Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard reported.

The two people aboard the 35-foot vessel are a father and son from Canada. They were rescued by a Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater air crew.

The Coast Guard said in a news release that the pair and their cat were returned to Air Station Clearwater in good health.

Coast Guard officials said they received an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon, or EPIRB, alert on Monday morning. An MH-60 Jayhawk air crew found the vessel “demasted and taking on water,” the news release states.