ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Four crew members of a fishing boat were plucked alive from a life raft in frigid, stormy seas in a remote Alaskan island chain Wednesday, hours after their vessel was reported in distress, a Coast Guard spokesman said. Three crew members died, and four remained missing.
A search continues for other members of the Katmai, a 93- foot fish processor based on Alaska’s Kodiak island, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Levi Read.
The water was 43 degrees when rescuers hauled the survivors out of the raft, Read said. Their survival suits, their physical conditions, and an effort to keep one another semi-warm and awake all could have helped them endure, he said.
“That takes a lot of fortitude and a lot of heart,” Read said.
They were to be flown in a Coast Guard helicopter to nearby Adak Island, but Read said they asked to remain with the Coast Guard so they could help with the search.
It wasn’t clear what happened to the boat.
The Coast Guard received an electronic signal at 1 a.m. from the Katmai. A search helicopter and C-130 airplane were sent from Kodiak, a journey of about 4 1/2 hours. The plane crew spotted two strobe lights in the water and dropped two life rafts. But after sunup, the searchers had seen no sign of the Katmai or its crew, Read said.
One strobe was attached to an empty survival suit and the other was attached to a floating emergency beacon that can be triggered automatically by contact with water.
The Coast Guard did not receive a mayday call, but given the boat’s remote location, it may not have been heard.
A fishing vessel that came to help found one of the three bodies, as well as debris, survival suits, fishing gear, a buoy and a life ring, Read said. But no oil sheen typically seen from sunken vessels had been spotted.
The Katmai was carrying a load of cod and was heading toward Dutch Harbor on Unalaska Island, Read said.
