Fishing boat rescues 5 from life raft south of Aleutians

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Five crew members of a commercial fishing boat were rescued after their vessel sank in Alaska waters.

The Coast Guard says the five from the Pacific 1 were picked up from an inflatable life raft about 40 miles (64 kilometres) southwest of Dutch Harbor by a second commercial fishing boat, the Kona Kai.

The Kona Kai transported the five in good condition to Dutch Harbor.

After the Pacific 1 reported taking on water and listing heavily, the Kona Kai relayed the distress signal to the Coast Guard and motored to the last known location of the stricken vessel.

Coast Guard helicopters searched, spotted the raft and deployed a data marker buoy. An “inflight problem” forced the helicopter to fly back to its base.