The U.S. Coast Guard, a crew of scientists and others launched an air and sea mission to rescue 13 people, including a child, from a fishing vessel just moments before it sank in darkness early Friday in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Virginia, authorities said. According to ABC 6 in Providence, the 115-foot tremont fishing vessel collided with the 1000-foot Panamanian-flagged container vessel MSC Rita. The tremont sent out a mayday call that it was taking on water and sinking with 13 people aboard that was received by watchstanders with Coast Guard Sector Virginia, officials said. That call was also heard by Atlantis, a 274-foot ship operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

The tremont’s 12 passengers boarded a life raft, while the captain stayed on his ship.