On June 30, the Coast Guard suspended the search for a man and woman reported missing from the fishing vessel Miss Destinee that capsized in Marmot Bay on Thursday, June 29.
Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk and MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crews, the crews of the Coast Guard Cutter Sherman and Chandeleur, a Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Kodiak boat crew, as well as pararescueman with the 212th Rescue Squadron from the Alaska Air National Guard, searched a 15-mile by 10-mile area in Marmot Bay for more than 35 hours to locate the two missing persons.
The pararescueman conducted diving operations in and around the fishing vessel Miss Destinee but were unable to locate the missing persons. The crew of the tug St. Michael also assisted with the search efforts.
“We and our fellow military partners and the good Samaritans have heavy hearts after an extensive and difficult search in Marmot Bay,” said Capt Sean Mackenzie, commander of Coast Guard Sector Anchorage. “We conducted this search-and-rescue mission as if two of our own shipmates became missing. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the man and woman still missing.”
A federal on-scene coordinator representative from Sector Anchorage is en route to Kodiak to oversee commercial salvage operations. The vessel Sea Strike was scheduled to arrive on July 1 with divers aboard to commence salvage operations to recover the Miss Destinee.
Watchstanders at Sector Anchorage received a mayday transmission over VHF-FM channel 16 from the good Samaritan vessel El Caporal at approximately 7:30 a.m., on June 29, to coordinate a search for the missing boaters.
Weather on scene was 11-mile-per-hour winds, four- to five-foot seas and six miles visibility.
