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The Coast Guard said Tuesday that it suspended the search for the lone crew member still missing after a fishing vessel sank in frigid waters off Alaska's Aleutian Islands.
Coast Guard calls off search for crew member of sunken vessel 032608 STATE 6 The Associated Press The Coast Guard said Tuesday that it suspended the search for the lone crew member still missing after a fishing vessel sank in frigid waters off Alaska's Aleutian Islands.

Charles Homans / The Associated Press

Large-scale rescue: Crew members of the Alaska Ranger arrive Tuesday in Dutch Harbor. The Ranger sank Sunday about 120 miles off Dutch Harbor. Four people were killed, and the U.S. Coast Guard suspended a search for a missing fifth crew member.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Story last updated at 3/26/2008 - 9:32 am

Coast Guard calls off search for crew member of sunken vessel

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

The crew member, Satashi Konno of Japan, was wearing a survival suit when the ship went down Sunday, but officials said it would have been difficult for him to sustain 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 perhaps fell 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."

The ship's owner, Seattle-based Fishing Company of Alaska, identified the other victims as chief engineer Daniel Cook, hometown unknown; mate David Silveira of San Diego; and crewman Byron Carrillo, believed to be from Seattle.

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.

Richard Canty, now a tug boat operator in New York, captained the Alaska Ranger 12 years ago.

"There were a lot of rudder problems on that boat," Canty said. "It was a very unstable boat."

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

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