Coast Guard suspends search for 5 missing after fishing boat capsizes in Southeast Alaska

The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday morning suspended the search for survivors from a Sitka-based commercial fishing boat that capsized early Sunday morning with five people aboard.

The Coast Guard said the search for the 52-foot Wind Walker continued for nearly 24 hours and covered more than 108 square nautical miles.

The boat’s crew issued a mayday call at 12:07 a.m. Sunday “reporting they were overturning,” the Coast Guard said. Watchstanders in Juneau received no additional response, they said, but the boat’s emergency beacon signal was located near Point Couverden in Icy Strait, southwest of Juneau.

On Sunday, the Coast Guard said searchers had located seven cold-water immersion suits and two strobe lights but no signs of any of the people aboard the vessel.

Coast Guard officials said in a statement midday Monday that the search was suspended pending any new information.

“We stand in sorrow and solidarity with the friends and family of the people we were not able to find over the past 24 hours,” Chief Warrant Officer James Koon, a search and rescue mission coordinator at Coast Guard Sector Southeast Alaska, said in the statement. “I am deeply grateful for the swiftness of our crews and other search assets who came together to amplify our efforts and completely saturate our search areas. Our collective hearts are with the friends and families of the who are experiencing the effects from this loss.”

State officials say an Alaska Marine Highway System ferry carrying more than 100 passengers diverted to the boat’s last known location. The ferry Hubbard, carrying about two dozen crew members and 110 passengers, was making the run from Tenakee Springs, Angoon and Kake back to Juneau when the call came, according to Sam Dapcevich, a state transportation department spokesman.

“They heard a brief emergency mayday call from the Wind Walker that the boat was capsizing and they were attempting to get into a life raft,” he said. “No further transmissions were heard.”

Tamara Jack, a passenger on the ferry, said the captain announced the vessel was diverting to the mayday call just after leaving Tenakee Springs. The passengers all gathered together, Jack said in a message. “Even if we didn’t know everyone, we formed a circle, held hands and prayed.”

Many passengers stood at the ice-coated windows keeping an eye out, she said.

Jack, who was coming from Kake, said the ferry’s crew took turns standing watch outside due to the rough weather as the boat’s horn blared.

The ferry’s captain described 50 knot winds out of the north, driving snow, freezing spray and 6- to 8-foot waves, Dapcevich said. “The captain told me it was almost zero visibility.”

He said the Hubbard could see the Wind Walker’s location on a vessel-tracking system, but lost that signal at 12:18 a.m. — just over 10 minutes after the initial mayday call. They notified the Coast Guard of the position.

The ferry got to the area and started a grid search at about 1 a.m. under Coast Guard coordination, Dapcevich said.

The Hubbard stayed in position until it was released at 10 a.m., he said, adding that the ferry captain praised the crew’s professionalism in difficult conditions.

“It’s just tragic, a terrible situation,” Dapcevich said. “It’s good that we were out there but unfortunately we were not able to locate any survivors.”