The Nation - News from July 31, 1987

Rescue planes found debris but no sign of a vessel with 18 people aboard that reported a fire and called for medical help, then apparently sent up more than a dozen distress flares, officials said. Three planes, the destroyer Ingersol and its helicopter, and a tugboat scoured waters 550 miles south of Hawaii for the vessel Mary Margaret, which reported Monday that it was on fire and urgently needed medical help. Search planes found some debris but officials did not know whether it was from the mystery vessel.