1 dead after fishing boats collide in southeast Alaska

WRANGELL, Alaska (KTUU) – One person was found dead in a sunken boat that collided with a larger fishing boat near Wrangell Wednesday morning.

The U.S. Coast Guard reported that two people were aboard the 20-foot skiff when a 58-foot fishing boat collided with it. The Coast Guard heard the mayday call just before 9 a.m. The Coast Guard had no indication as to which vessel was at fault.

One person was thrown into the water and rescued by “Good Samaritans” who were in the area at the time of the collision.

The other person was found hours later by a diver from Petersburg Search Rescue inside the sunken boat.

Also participating in the search effort were the Coast Guard Airfield in Sitka, the Wrangell Search and Rescue Unit, the Coast Guard Cutter Elderberry, the Coast Guard Cutter Douglas Denman, Alaska State Troopers and “numerous” Good Samaritans.

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