SEATTLE — Coast Guard rescue crews are searching for a missing 56-year-old fisherman in the Pacific Ocean about eight miles west of the Queets River, Wednesday morning.
Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Columbia River, in Astoria, Ore., received notification via VHF-FM radio from the fishing vessel Sanja that a crewmember had fallen overboard at about 1:30 a.m.
The man was reportedly not wearing a lifejacket.
Rescue crews launched from Coast Guard Air Station Astoria, Ore., aboard an MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter and Coast Guard Station Grays Harbor, in Westport, Wash., aboard a 47-foot Motor Lifeboat.
Current weather conditions in the search area are six-foot waves and five-knot winds, with a water temperature of 48 degrees, Fahrenheit.
The Coast Guard recommends that mariners wear lifejackets at all times while on the water. It is much easier to have a lifejacket on than to try to don one during an emergency.
U.S. Coast Guard MH-60T file photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Nate Littlejohn
