JUNEAU, Alaska – Coast Guard Sector Juneau received a report at 11:30 a.m. today that a 52 year-old commercial fisherman from Petersburg, Alaska was overdue after he did not return from a halibut fishing trip Thursday.
At 11:50 a.m. a Coast Guard rescue crew from Air Station Sitka out on a routine patrol located the missing man’s fishing vessel, Hurricane, aground with the engines still running near Cape Fanshaw approximately 30 miles northwest of Petersburg. The crew from the MH-60 Jayhawk lowered a rescue swimmer to investigate the vessel. The rescue swimmer searched the vessel and found nobody on board.
The Coast Guard has two helicopters on scene searching the area for the missing mariner. The Coast Guard Cutter Liberty was also launched from Auke Bay to assist in the search. Also participating are a Coast Guard Auxiliary vessel from Petersburg, two Good Samaritan fishing vessels, the Alaska State Troopers, the South East Alaska Dogs Organized for Ground Search (SEADOGS), and a Juneau-based Army National Guard Blackhawk helicopter.
