Coast Guard suspends search for missing fishing vessel

JUNEAU, Alaska — The crew of the "Destination" fishing vessel, a Seattle-based boat that went missing in the Bering Sea last month, were declared legally dead on March 20 in a "presumptive death hearing," according to Alaska Dispatch News.

The U.S. Coast Guard in Alaska said it suspended the search for a fishing boat with six people that had been missing in the Bering Sea since February.

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The Coast Guard says the debris found in the search for Seattle-based crabbing boat is consistent with sunken vessel, but the search for the six people who were on board continued.

The radio beacon alert from the fishing vessel with 6 crew on board was activated in Saturday morning two miles northwest of St. George. Alaska. The vessel's electronic locating device was recovered Saturday morning in a debris field containing buoys, a life ring and an oil sheen. The Coast Guard said the debris found is consistent with a sunken fishing vessel.

The loved ones of the men on board identify them as Charles Glenn Jones, Larry O'Grady, Raymond Vincler, Darrik Seibold, Kai Hamik and Jeff Hathaway.

KIRO 7 talked to Larry O'Grady's wife on Monday.

"It's been the sit and wait game and it just tears you up. There's nothing you can do," said Gail O'Grady. "They have fished up there in terrible weather, but everybody knows their job. Everybody knows that safety first. Whatever happened, happened so fast, that nobody had any time, had any time to send out a Mayday or anything."

Debbie Lindgren lived next door to Larry O'Grady for 27 years. She was at the family home offering support on Monday.

"When you were with Larry he always made you feel loved like you were the most important person there. And you don't have a lot of people in your life you know are going to love you unconditionally, and Larry made everyone feel that way," said Lindgren.

She said O'Grady seemed invincible.

"Gail never worried about him going out to sea. We never worried about him because it's Larry. If there was anyway to get off that boat, Larry would have got off that boat."

The Coast Guard doesn't yet know the cause of the boat's disappearance.

On Monday morning, the Coast Guard says conditions in the Bering Sea were 5 to 8-foot high seas, snowing, with winds at 30 mph, and a water temperature below freezing at 30 degrees. The average person could survive about 15 hours in a survival suit.

People on the small island of St. George are looking along the shore for any signs of the crew.

The Coast Guard told the relatives of the victims it would call off the search late Monday night.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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