Feb. 13 (UPI) — Rescuers entered Day 3 of a search for a missing fishing boat with six people on board in the Bering Sea off Alaska’s coast, the U.S. Coast Guard said Monday.
The 95-foot vessel Destination was traveling from Dutch Harbor to St. Paul Island in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands chain when its emergency beacon activated on Saturday morning. Later Saturday a Coast Guard rescue team found the beacon and several items from the ship amid a small oil sheen on the water about 2 miles northwest of St. George Island. The Coast Guard said it deployed planes, helicopters and the 378-foot cutter Morgenthau in the search.
“The reason for a response this large is usually because, when we reach the location the [distress beacon] is giving us, it’s with the vessel,” Petty Officer 3rd Class Lauren Steenson said Saturday.
The ship is used to fish for crabs and salmon, said Dylan Hatfield, a fisherman who said his brother was aboard the missing ship.
“Whatever happened, it happened fast to not get a mayday [signal] out,” Hatfield said.
The U.S. Weather Service reported a freezing spray warning on Friday and Saturday in the area, common when heavy winds and below-freezing temperatures combine. The situation can lead to capsizing or extreme rolling and pitching of a ship.
