Updated 2/11/17 at 4:20 p.m.
Searchers have found the emergency beacon of a commercial fishing vessel that went missing Saturday morning in the Bering Sea.
U.S. Coast Guard officials say the F/V Destination activated its electronic position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) two miles northwest of St. George Island.
The Coast Guard launched an air search at 10:13 a.m. and has since found the EPIRB at sea “among a debris field containing buoys, a life ring from the Destination, and an oil sheen.”
Records show there are two commercial fishing vessels named the Destination with home ports in the Aleutian Islands.
One is currently docked in Unalaska, which suggests the Coast Guard is searching for a 99-foot steel ship hailing from Sand Point. Its vessel registration shows the Destination was built in 1981.
St. George has organized a search party to patrol the shore for signs of the Destination or its crew.
The Coast Guard Cutter Morgenthau and two Good Samaritan vessels have also joined the search, which started with an HC-130 Hercules airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak as well as two MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters from the forward operating location in Cold Bay.
This is a developing story. Please check back for more information.
-- -- -- Updated 2/11/17 at 3:40 p.m.
The U.S. Coast Guard has named the F/V Destination as the source of a recent emergency transmission received northwest of St. George Island. Officials say aircrews are currently searching for the ship in that area of Bering Sea.
Records show there are two commercial fishing vessels named the Destination that have home ports in the Aleutian Islands.
One is currently docked in Unalaska, which suggests the Coast Guard is searching for a 99-foot steel ship hailing from Sand Point. Its vessel registration shows the Destination was built in 1981.
The Coast Guard hasn’t released exact information on where or when the Destination activated its electronic position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB), but the agency first shared the news Saturday at 12 p.m. through a post on Twitter.
“We’ve responded by sending a C-130 crew from Air Station Kodiak as well as an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Cold Bay to fly over the area and conduct a search for the source of that EPIRB transmission,” said Chief Petty Officer Shawn Eggert of the Coast Guard District 17 Public Affairs Office.
-- -- -- Original Story
The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for the source of an emergency beacon that was recently activated somewhere northwest of St. George Island.
“I don’t have any information on the vessel it was attached to -- if it was even attached to a vessel -- or what they may have been doing out there,” said Chief Petty Officer Shawn Eggert of the District 17 Public Affairs Office.
The Coast Guard hasn’t released exact information on where or when the EPIRB -- or electronic position indicating radiobeacon -- was activated. The agency first shared the news Saturday at 12 p.m. through a post on Twitter.
“We’ve responded by sending a C-130 crew from Air Station Kodiak as well as an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Cold Bay to fly over the area and conduct a search for the source of that EPIRB transmission,” said Eggert.
