Coast Guard suspends search for 2 missing boaters near Kodiak

The search for two boaters who went missing in the frigid waters near Kodiak Island when their fishing vessel capsized Thursday morning was called off by Friday night, the Coast Guard said.

A cohort of professional responders and citizen volunteers banded together Thursday to search for the boaters. The group continued its search through Friday but was unsuccessful in locating them, said Coast Guard Lt. Brian Dykens.

"The operation has changed to a recovery effort at this point," Dykens said. The Coast Guard will be working with the appropriate federal agencies to remove the boat Miss Destinee from Marmot Bay, he said.

Multiple Coast Guard assets — two helicopter crews, two cutters and a response boat focusing on navigation — nine members of an Alaska Air National Guard rescue squadron and good Samaritan tug boat St. Michael were involved with the search.

Anchorage-based Coast Guard officials received a mayday transmission from a good Samaritan boat around 7:30 a.m. Thursday.

The rescue boat requested help in coordinating a search for the missing boaters, and reported to the Coast Guard that it had picked up the skipper and a crew member from the fishing vessel Miss Destinee. The two rescued boaters were hoisted off the good Samaritan boat, El Caporal.

[Coast Guard rescues 2 boaters near Kodiak with help of good Samaritan]

Kyle Mead is the skipper of Miss Destinee, described as a 35-foot boat equipped with a purse seine, said Petty Officer 1st Class Bill Colclough. Mead told the rescuers a large wave caused his boat to overturn.

Following the mayday call, responders immediately started searching a 7 1/2-mile area in Marmot Bay, located between Afognak and Kodiak islands, Lt. j.g. Travis Dopp said.

Weather during the initial effort was not perfect, with 20-mph winds and 10-foot seas. Conditions calmed Friday; weather on scene was reported as light winds with 2-foot seas, 3 miles of visibility and fog.

Starting Friday, responders, staging from the Coast Guard Cutter Sherman, dove underneath Miss Destinee and tried to locate the missing boaters while others continued to search the surrounding waters, Dykens said.

Some of the equipment of the Miss Destinee, like the fishing net, complicated the approach to the boat, which remained capsized and floating, said Chief Petty Officer Shawn Eggert.

The divers eventually searched several areas of the boat but were unable to find anyone, Dykens said.