US Coast Guard Rescues Three Fishermen After Fire in Gulf of Alaska

 

On Sunday, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter aircrew rescued three survivors from a fishing vessel after it caught fire in the Gulf of Alaska. 

At about 0423 hours on Sunday, Coast Guard Sector Western Alaska received a distress signal from the 60-foot fishing vessel Tsiu. The boat was under way about 50 miles east of Kayak Island, a remote area off the coast of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, when it sustained an electrical fire and lost all power. The crew deployed their anchor, but the Tsiu continued to drift, and it was in danger of running aground. 

The Coast Guard dispatched a Jayhawk helicopter aircrew out of Air Station Sitka to respond to the distress call. The helicopter arrived at 1207 hours on Sunday afternoon, and despite 15-foot seas, the rescue swimmer safely recovered all three of the boat's crewmembers from the water. 

The aircrew flew the survivors to Yakutat, and all crewmembers were in stable condition on arrival. Luckily, the vessel's anchor caught the bottom off the coast of Kayak Island, averting a grounding, and the owner is working on salvage options, according to the Coast Guard. 

Tsiu is a 1979-built fishing vessel owned and operated out of Sitka.