KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
The F/V Naket ablaze south of Sitkinak Island Sunday. The four-man crew abandoned ship and were rescued by an Air Station Kodiak Jayhawk crew. Photo by Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Charly Hengen
Four Kodiak fishermen are in good shape after being forced to abandon their burning fishing boat five miles south of Sitkinak Island on Sunday morning. The crew of the 52-foot Nakat were hoisted from their liferaft around 10:30 a.m. by an Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk after being alerted by the crew’s EPIRB, which went off about 8:30 a.m.
Skipper Joe Macinko told the Coast Guard the fire started in the boat’s galley stove and kept flaring up as he tried to extinguish it.
— (Rescue 1 42 sec "I went through … wondering if you’re EPIRB’s working.")
He and crewmen Andrew Macinko, Wyatt Adams and David Merriman were spotted by a Coast Guard HC-130 about three miles from the burning boat.
Jayhawk pilot Lt. Ray Slapkunas said the rescue went well.
— (Rescue 2 30 sec "The vessel was pretty easy … back with their families.")
Slapkunas said the four fishermen were very well equipped, with drinking water, survival and first aid kits, and their EPIRB in the liferaft with them.
The Naket is a total loss.
