Coast Guard searching for survivors after boat sinks near Sutwik Island, 5 still missing
U.S. Coast Guard sent this bulletin at 01/01/2020 02:28 PM EST
| News Release |
U.S. Coast Guard 17th District Alaska Contact: 17th District Public Affairs Office: (907) 428-4181 After Hours: (907) 209-6509 17th District online newsroom |
Coast Guard searching for survivors after boat sinks near Sutwik Island, 5 still missing
JUNEAU, Alaska — Coast Guard crews are searching for five people in the water Wednesday after their boat sank near Sutwik Island, Alaska.
Scandies Rose, a 130-foot crab fishing vessel homeported in Dutch Harbor, sank at approximately 10 p.m. Tuesday with seven crew members aboard. Two survivors were rescued, five crew members are still missing. The vessel’s last known position was 170 miles southwest of Air Station Kodiak.
MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and HC-130 Hercules airplane crews launched from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak. The Jayhawk helicopter crew arrived on scene and hoisted two survivors from a life raft. Coast Guard Cutter Mellon (WHEC 717) was diverted from the Bering Sea and is expected to arrive on scene Wednesday evening.
Watchstanders at Coast Guard Communications Detachment Kodiak received a mayday call from Scandies Rose over HF 4125 KHz at approximately 10:00 p.m. Tuesday and immediately relayed the distress call to the command center for search and rescue coordination.
“We are conducting an extensive search in a 300-square mile area to locate the five missing persons from the Scandies Rose,” said Lt. Wade Arnold, command duty officer at 17th District command center.
Weather on scene is in excess of 40 mph winds, 15 to 20 foot seas and one mile visibility.
-USCG-
I found the following information in my files: The Scandies Rose was built in 1978 at Bender Shipbuilding and Repair of Mobile, Alabama as the Enterprise. Her current statistics as seen on the U S C G Marine Information Exchange are Length 116.6, Breadth 34 and Depth 11.3. She registered as a crabber when she arrived at King Cove, Alaska in 1978. She sailed with the name Enterprise until 1987 when she became the Scandies Rose.
On February 25, 1994 the Scandies Rose rescued five crewmembers of the Jody Ann from their life raft northwest of St. Paul Island in the Bering Sea. The Jody Ann had developed an out of control flooding problem from her lazarette forcing the crew to abandon ship. The Jody Ann sank shortly after the crew took to the life raft. On scene weather for the Jody Ann was 40 knot winds, 20 foot seas and a temperature of 19 degrees F.
-Captain Warren Good-
This is the first of hearing about the Scandies Rose sinking. The last time I saw it was a beautiful boat it was the one that rescued me from the water I was on the Jody Ann when it went down. My heart goes out to the families. I preferred when I had nothing but good memories of the scandies!!