ABERDEEN — A 26-year-old man died after a Coast Guard rescue of two men from an overturned fishing boat about 25 miles northwest of Aberdeen on Tuesday night.
The Coast Guard Station Quillayute River assisted in the rescue of two Port Orchard men, one of whom was not injured, after Coast Guard Group/Air Station Port Angeles and the Coast Guard station at Astoria, Ore., received a Mayday from a 31-foot fishing boat, Renee Marie, at 7:20 p.m.
The boat, which is homeported in Chinook, overturned at Cape Elizabeth, spilling Westin Fowler and Jeremy Brown into the ocean, the Coast Guard said in a written statement.
An HH-60 helicopter was launched from Astoria, along with a 47-foot motor lifeboat crew from the Quillayute River station, the Coast Guard said.
Using directions provided by the Coast Guard’s Rescue 21 system, the helicopter crew found Fowler tangled in crab fishing gear. A rescue swimmer pulled him from the water.
He later died at Aberdeen General Hospital, the Coast Guard said.
Two Astoria helicopter crews, two motor lifeboat crews from Quillayute River and Grays Harbor stations and two commercial fishing vessels searched the water 8 miles west of Cape Elizabeth for Brown.
The Quillayute River team found Brown, no age given, on a raft several hours later at about 11:30 p.m., after he had set off a flare.
He was not injured, the Coast Guard said.
“Mr. Brown’s presence of mind helped a great deal to increase his chances of survival,” said Lt. Robert Potter, a Coast Guard pilot who assisted after the capsizing.
“He managed to stay focused enough to get the raft inflated and those flares shot off. The third flare he fired perfectly illuminated the raft he was in, and all our resources headed straight for him.”
The cause of the capsizing is under investigation, the Coast Guard said.
Sheen
The overturned vessel left a half-mile-by-80-foot sheen, the Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard, Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Quinault Nation Indian Tribe, state Department of Ecology, Department of Interior, Meredith Management and CPR Management Services are helping to clean it up.
The Coast Guard said the National Pollution Fund was opened for the cleanup, which will cost about $250,000.
The sheen is made up of diesel, hydraulic and other lubricant fluids.
The Coast Guard said it is evaporating, and that there is no risk it will reach land.
