The U..S. Coast Guard base in Ketchikan is seen from a floatplane window. (KRBD photo by Leila Kheiry)
A group of seven, including two children, was rescued Friday morning by U.S. Coast Guard crews after a fishing vessel hit a rock and sank near Thorne Bay off Prince of Wales Island.
Petty Officer Third Class Lauren Dean said the Mystic Lady’s skipper sent out a mayday a little after 4 a.m. Friday that the 58-foot fishing vessel had hit a rock and was sinking fast.
The skipper said seven people on board were abandoning ship into a life raft.
Coast Guard Station Ketchikan sent a 45-foot response boat.
“It’s approximately a 40-mile trek,” she said. “They were launched at approximately 4:34 this morning and were on scene by about 5:30 this morning.”
The crew arrived and spotted seven people in the inflatable raft near the entrance to Thorne Bay.
Petty Officer Dean didn’t have information about the type of fishing vessel. She did say that it was fortunate the ship had an inflatable life raft.
“That actually increased their own chances of survival exponentially until we were able to get our boat crews on scene to assist,” she said.
The Mystic Lady had a reported 350 gallons of diesel and 25 gallons of lube oil on board. There were no reports of pollution. The accident is under investigation.
