‘Miracle’: 1 of 2 missing U.S. fishermen found adrift in life raft off Vancouver Island
Global News
One of two missing mariners was found alive in a life raft Thursday, a day after U.S. officials had suspended their search and two weeks after their vessel left port in Washington.
One of two U.S. fishermen missing off the Pacific coast for weeks has been rescued in the waters off Vancouver Island Thursday, in what one U.S. Coast Guard official described as a “miracle.”
The two missing men were aboard the 43-foot vessel Evening, which departed Westport at the south end of the Olympic Peninsula on Oct. 12. They failed to return as planned three days later, and were reported missing this past Sunday by one of their children.
A U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson said two flight crews from Alaska and a helicopter based in Astoria then launched a massive search, combing more than 36,000 square kilometres of ocean.
“Unfortunately, we were not able to locate anybody, any sort of life rafts, any sort of debris or anything in the water,” U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier said.
On Wednesday, U.S. officials suspended the search for the two men.
Incredibly, just one day later, a civilian vessel found one of the two men alive in a tiny life raft in waters about 40 nautical miles of Ucluelet, according to the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Victoria.
“Just an unbelievable stroke of luck,” Strohmaier said.