KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
The Coast Guard is searching for a man who fell overboard from a crab boat this morning. The 40-year-old crew member was tangled in a line while setting a crab pot from the Kodiak-based fishing vessel Seabrooke at about 10 a.m.
The boat was fishing for tanner crab about 22 miles northwest of Cold Bay. Coast Guard Petty Officer Walter Shinn said they do not know if he was wearing any sort of flotation device and the crew has not seen him since he went overboard.
With water temperatures at 34 degrees and air temperatures at 19 degrees, Shinn said chances of survival are low. Three Coast Guard helicopters are searching the area for the man, who has not yet been identified.
The last fatality in the crab fishery was in January of 2005.
