Survival after capsizing in Bering Sea rare, former captain says
Feb 13, 2017, 7:37 AM | Updated: 5:51 pm
Bering Sea (Photo, Wikimedia Commons. Author, Bering Land Bridge National Preserve)
(Photo, Wikimedia Commons. Author, Bering Land Bridge National Preserve)
A 98-foot-long fishing vessel and six fishermen based out of Seattle have been missing in the Bering Sea since Saturday morning. Retired boat captain Jack Molan says once a boat capsizes survival is rare.
The Coast Guard has been searching for the F/V Destination over the weekend. So far, crews have only found its electronic locator in a debris field containing buoys, a life ring, and an oil sheen. The Coast Guard says the debris found in the search for Seattle-based crabbing boat is consistent with sunken vessel, according to KIRO 7.
“You just don’t come up with too many survivors in a rollover,” Molan told KIRO 7.
Molan says the cold conditions could have led to the vessel’s disappearance.
“The spray will hit the boat and freeze and start accumulating tremendous amounts of weight. And so the boat gets top heavy.”
The water temperature is 38 degrees.
It is still unclear which crew members were on the ship when it vanished.
People on the small island of St. George are looking along the shore for any signs of the crew, KIRO 7 reports.
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