The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search Thursday evening for a man overboard near an island south of Kodiak.
Coast Guard spokesperson Petty Officer 1st Class David Mosley says the unidentified crewman was reported overboard from the fishing vessel Flying Ocean, 30 miles northwest of Sitkinak Island, just before 11 a.m. Thursday. The search was suspended at 9:37 p.m.
Coast Guard assets committed to the search included the cutter Hickory as well as two MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters and an HC-130 Hercules search plane. Coast Guardsmen searched about 550 square miles of water for the fisherman.
“Suspending a search and rescue case is one of the hardest decisions that we have to make,” said Michael McNeil, a command duty officer at Coast Guard Sector Anchorage. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the missing fisherman’s family and the crew of the fishing vessel.”
During the search, one of the Coast Guard’s Jayhawks experienced an in-flight emergency due to a mechanical failure. Crew members were able to land the helicopter without injuries on a beach at Low Cape, on the southwest side of Kodiak Island, and were taken to the Hickory aboard the cutter’s small boat.
The Coast Guard is investigating the Jayhawk’s mechanical failure and plans to recover the helicopter once the investigation is complete.
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