Search Suspended For Missing Fisherman

Japanese Crew Member Still Missing After Boat Sank In Bering Sea

(AP)  The Coast Guard said Tuesday that it suspended the search for a Japanese crew member still missing after a fishing vessel sank in frigid waters off Alaska's Aleutian Islands.

The crew member, Satashi Konno was wearing a survival suit when the ship went down Sunday, but officials said it would have been difficult for him to survive the dangerous 36-degree temperatures in the Bering Sea. The search ended late Monday.

"We searched long and hard for Mr. Konno and unfortunately have been unable to locate any sign of the Fishing Master from the Alaska Ranger," Coast Guard Rear Adm. Gene Brooks said in a statement. The decision to end the search "was a very difficult one," he said.

Konno might have fallen into the water from a rescue basket, and officials were investigating.

"The Coast Guard can't make an official assumption of the cause of death for Mr. Konno," Chief Petty Officer Barry Lane said Tuesday. "The temperatures and the weather conditions were very, very unfavorable and very, very dangerous."

The last group of the ship's 42 survivors arrived in Dutch Harbor overnight on a Coast Guard cutter. Only one, Alex Olivares, spoke as he and other crew members were hustled from the ship to waiting cabs.

"Glad to be alive," he said.

Four people whose bodies were recovered earlier died of hypothermia, including captain Eric Peter Jacobsen. They spent up to six hours in the frigid water after the vessel began to sink, apparently unable to make it to life rafts, said Alaska Wildlife Trooper Sgt. Greg Garcia.

Troopers' interviews with members of the ship's sister vessel, the Alaska Warrior, which assisted in the rescue efforts, indicate that the captain likely took care of others before himself, Garcia said, which could be the reason so many people survived.

"I don't know if there wasn't enough room in the rafts or not for them, but it sounds to me that the hierarchy wanted to assure everybody else is saved," he said.

Word of her father's efforts slowly made their way from Alaska to Hingham, Mass., to Karen Jacobsen, the captain's daughter. She said her father was known as "Capt. Pete," a man who put his crew before himself.

"If anything ever happened, he would make sure everyone would be safely off the boat," said Karen Jacobsen, 43. "He would be the last one off the ship."

She said she learned of her father's death from her stepbrother Scott Jacobsen in Seattle.

"He said, 'dad's ship went down.' I think I knew, but I asked anyway, 'is he OK?' His voice was cracking and he said, 'no,' then he told me what happened."

Problems began early Sunday when the ship's rudder room began taking on water. A distress call went out just before 3 a.m. When the ship sank, waves reached up to 20 feet and winds were nearly 30 mph.

The company did not return numerous phone calls for comment on the incident or Canty's comments.

The Coast Guard dispatched an investigation team late Monday to Dutch Harbor, from where the boat left for a mackerel fishing grounds before taking in water about 120 miles off shore.

Whatever the team finds, Karen Jacobsen says that family can begin pursuing closure knowing her father's body was retrieved.

"At least we'll be able to have his body back," she said. "If anything, it's going to be just nice to have him, to see him."