Coast Guard suspends search for remaining victims of charter boat accident near Sitka

UPDATE, 6-1-23:

Alaska State Troopers recovered the bodies of two women from the partially-submerged hull of a charter boat which sank near Sitka over Memorial Day weekend. The boat’s captain and one other passenger remain missing. See the full story.

UPDATE, 5-31-23:

One person is dead, and another four are missing and presumed lost after their charter fishing vessel sank in rough seas near Sitka on Sunday. An extensive air and sea search turned up no sign of the missing individuals. The Coast Guard suspended operations on Monday evening.

On the evening of May 28, Kingfisher Charters notified the Coast Guard that one of its boats was overdue, with five people on board.

The boat had last been seen near Cape Edgecumbe. Coast Guard Public Affairs Officer Ian Gray said an air crew found it on Sunday evening partially submerged near Low Island, about 10 miles southwest of Sitka.

“We launched Air Station Sitka along with Air Station Kodiak to conduct search patterns. We discovered a half submerged vessel at around 6:03 p.m. Sunday night, and conducted search efforts to find the five individuals that were missing,” Gray said. “We located one in the water, an older adult male who was not wearing a personal flotation device, and he was deceased.”

The Coast Guard continued their search throughout the next day for the remaining four people who were missing from the boat, with a helicopter crew, a plane from Kodiak, the fast response cutter Douglas Denman, the Sitka Fire Department emergency response vessel, and several good Samaritan vessels on the scene. Over 20 hours, they scoured a wide area. Gray said the search was called off around 9:30 on Monday evening.

“It’s an unfortunate outcome,” Gray said. “The suspended case is always a hard decision to make…But after searching over 820 square [miles] for over 20 hours, those decisions were made, ultimately…our hearts go out to the families of the victims.”

Names of the victims have not been released to the public. An investigation into the accident is ongoing, but Gray says so far it doesn’t look like the vessel ran aground.

“The initial divers that dove on the boat to examine the vessel [said] it didn’t indicate that the vessel struck anything,” Gray said. “There wasn’t a big hole in the hull of the vessel that indicated that they struck anything to make it sink.”

After the search was called off, local marine salvage company Hanson Maritime took over salvage efforts, and was working to remove the boat from the water on Tuesday afternoon. The loss of five people aboard the charter vessel is the worst maritime tragedy in the area since a chartered float plane went down en route from Sitka to Warm Springs Bay in September, 2004. No sign of the plane, its pilot, or its four passengers has ever been found.

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Initial Reporting:
Update – 10:30 a.m. 5-30-23:
A search for four missing people in the water near Sitka has been suspended (5-29-23).

According to a Coast Guard press release issued Tuesday morning, the search for the missing boaters was called off at 9:30 Monday evening.

“Despite our best efforts and those of several partner agencies, we were not able to find the four remaining individuals, ” said Capt. Darwin Jensen in a statement. “Suspending a search is never an easy decision. We extend our deepest sympathy to the loved ones during this difficult time. Our sincere thanks to community partners and the good Samaritan vessels who rapidly responded to help in the search.”

Original report (5-29-23):

The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for four missing people who were last seen boating near Sitka on Sunday afternoon (5-28-23).

According to a Coast Guard press release, on Sunday evening Kingfisher Charters reported an overdue charter vessel with five people on board.

The boat had last been seen underway near Cape Edgecumbe in Sitka Sound. It was found shortly after 7 p.m. on Sunday, partially submerged near Low Island, about one mile east of Shoals Point, on the southern tip of Kruzof Island.

The Coast Guard recovered one deceased person from the wreckage. As of press time on Monday afternoon, the search for the four missing individuals was ongoing, with several coast guard crews, the Sitka Fire Department and good samaritan vessels aiding in the rescue efforts. Names of the deceased person and the four missing were not released.