Two sailors were rescued from waters 50 miles off Lanai on Tuesday night after a massive multiagency search.

The men had been hired to transport the 21-foot sailboat J Bird from Keehi Lagoon on Oahu to Hilo, and the owner of the boat called the Coast Guard at 1:20 a.m. Tuesday to report that he thought they might be in trouble. The mother of one of the sailors had told the Coast Guard on Monday they had not made contact for some time, according to a Coast Guard news release.

The Coast Guard launched a search with the Hawaii County fire and police departments, U.S. Navy, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Hilo squadron of the Civil Air Patrol. Hawaii County officials searched the Big Island shoreline, and DLNR officers checked marinas on all islands in search of the vessel. Air crews flew in search patterns over 10,000 square miles, including the coastlines of Lanai, Maui, Kahoolawe and much of the Big Island.

Maui County fire crews also assisted in the search, fire officials said.

The disabled sailboat was spotted 50 miles south of Lanai by the crew of a Coast Guard C-130 aircraft around 6:45 p.m. Tuesday, when the plane's crew was on the last leg of a search pattern before returning to Oahu to refuel.

The sailors fired a flare to alert searchers.

The C-130 remained on the scene until a Coast Guard HH-65 rescue helicopter arrived. By then, the ship's two masts were in the water and the boat was "swaying violently," said rescue helicopter pilot Lt. j.g. Jason Gross.

"After we lowered a rescue swimmer onto the vessel, we determined the best course of action would be to have the two men swim away from the boat, and then we lowered a basket into the water and hoisted them from there," he said in the Coast Guard release.

"This one could have turned out much differently," said search and rescue planner Petty Officer 1st Class Sean Soule.