Updated

The U.S. Coast Guard has rescued four people from a life raft after their tugboat sank off California near Big Sur.

The Coast Guard said in a statement that it received a distress call from the tugboat known as Delta Captain Saturday and sent two boats and a helicopter to the scene.

The helicopter spotted the crew and lowered a rescue swimmer to help hoist them out of the raft into the aircraft.

They were taken to shore in Monterey where paramedics were waiting, but there were no reports of injuries.

Two tugboats were sent to the barge the Delta Captain was pulling, and teams from the Coast Guard and the state's Department of Fish and Wildlife were working to recover the tugboat and assess any environmental damage it may have done.