The Coast Guard was notified by watchstanders at the Sector Anchorage Command Center about an emergency call by VHF radio late Monday night from the fishing vessel “Fish On,” which caught fire and sank while anchored in Kalsin Bay, according to a Coast Guard spokesperson. The two individuals aboard were saved by a good Samaritan vessel- the “Counterfeit.”
Coast Guard public affairs specialist Petty Officer Second Class Melissa McKenzie said there currently isn’t a pollutants issue, but that the craft was likely not salvageable.
“They were taken safely I believe, to Kodiak where they were dropped off. And then just recently, a little while ago, we had an Air Station 65 helicopter crew do an overflight in the vicinity where the vessel was at anchor when it supposedly caught fire and sank,” McKenzie said. “They found no indication of pollution or the vessel in the area. They observed no sort of sheening or anything like that. And then we currently at this point, what we have going on- we have coastguard investigators for Marine Safety Detachment in Kodiak, who are basically going to be conducting an investigation into what happened and kind of just monitoring the situation to see if any further calls for cleanup may come up if we actually start locating the vessel.”
According to McKenzie, the investigation is in the early preliminary stages.