 November 02, 2004
The Coast Guard received a call at about 3:30 p.m. from a crewmember aboard the fishing vessel Blue Fin who reported his boat capsized. Sam Elliott and Don Munhoven Jr. of Ketchikan, equipped with life vests, clung to the overturned vessel while waiting for assistance. The Coast Guard issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast (UMIB) and launched an Air Station Sitka Jayhawk helicopter crew and a Station Ketchikan 47-foot motor life boat crew to the scene. Three Good Samaritan vessels responded to the UMIB. Don Munhoven, father of Don Munhoven Jr., aboard fishing vessel Hall Point arrived first on scene. Munhoven pulled his son and Elliott, who remained in the water for about 20 minutes, aboard his boat. Once the men were safe, they attempted to re-right the capsized vessel. While trying to do so, a line became tangled in the fishing vessel Hall Point's propeller rendering it inoperable. The Station Ketchikan boat crew, standing by, took the vessel in tow and safely returned it to Ketchikan. The fishing vessel Blue Fin remains in Revillagigedo Channel as a hazard to navigation. None of the men sustained any injuries.
Source of News:
|