Kellogg man among those missing in Alaskan crab boat incident
Courtesy images/ Brock Rainey, an Alaskan Crab fisherman, is one of five missing crew members after the fishing vessel he was working on sank on Tuesday night. Rescue efforts were ended on Wednesday. Rainey was currently residing in Kellogg.
The Scandies Rose was the crab fishing vessel that Brock Rainey was working on that sank into the cold waters off the coast of Alaska.
ALASKA –– A Kellogg man is among five other missing crew members after a crab fishing boat sank off the coast of Alaska Tuesday evening.
Brock Rainey, of Kellogg, reportedly had a chance to get off the vessel into a lifeboat, but insisted on returning to attempt to save the captain according to a local source who is friends with Rainey.
The US Coast Guard (USCG) had been using helicopters, planes, and a boat to look for the missing crew members for 20 hours before ending the search late Wednesday due to conditions. According to other experts in the field, survival is not likely after this amount of time.
Gary Knagin, of Kodiak, Alaska, the brother-in-law of the boat's captain, Gary Cobban and a 30-year Alaska Crab fishing veteran, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he doesn’t think it’s likely the five missing crew members will be found alive.
“We know the risks involved in this profession, and I’m not holding out hope,” said Knagin. “I’ve seen this too many times. There’s a 13-hour window in those conditions, and they passed that.”
The 130-foot (40-meter) boat, named the Scandies Rose, was carrying a load of crabbing pots for the start of the winter season.
The vessel's last known position was 170 miles (270 kilometers) southwest of Kodiak Island, near the southern tip of Alaska, and it sank about 10 p.m. Tuesday, the agency said.
Rescue crews arrived about 2 a.m. on Wednesday and battled winds of more than 40 mph (64 kph), 15- to 20-foot (4.5- to 6-meter) seas and visibility that was limited to 1 mile (1.5 kilometers), according to the USCG.
According to the National Weather Service, the air temperature was roughly 10 degrees, while the water temperature was 43 degrees at the time.
Two crew members were found safe and have been treated for hypothermia.
Rescuers saw a faint light in one life raft, but a medic lowered from a helicopter found it empty, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Another faint light was spotted about a half-mile (1 kilometer) away, where searchers found the two survivors, ages 38 and 34.
The men told rescuers that they were able to get into survival suits and didn’t know if the other five crew members did, the newspaper reported. The suits offer flotation and hypothermia protection.
The News-Press will continue to follow this ongoing story and offers their sympathies to the families of all of the missing crew members.
Associated Press content was used for this story.