This is a developing story.
The bodies of two of the five people aboard a fishing vessel that capsized near Juneau on Dec. 1 were found Monday on a beach east of Hoonah, according to the Alaska State Troopers.
“Alaska Wildlife Troopers from Juneau and Hoonah responded to Spasski Bay (approximately 4 miles east of Hoonah) after human remains were located on the beach,” a dispatch posted at the Troopers website at about 6:40 p.m. states.
Also aboard a Juneau-based Alaska National Guard helicopter were National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration law enforcement officers and members of the SEADOGS K9, according to the dispatch. The two bodies were located amidst debris of the Wind Walker, a Sitka-based fishing vessel that capsized just after midnight Dec. 1 near Point Couverden, located at the western entrance of Lynn Canal southwest of Juneau.
“(The) two unidentified bodies were transported to Juneau in the Alaska National Guard helicopter,” the Trooper dispatch states. “An additional search of about five miles of shoreline in the area was conducted with the dog teams, and no other human remains were located. The remains are being transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy and positive identification. Next of kin have been notified.”
The names of the people aboard the fishing boat were Travis Kapp, Jacob Hannah, Alex Ireland, Emilio Celaya-Talamanter and Michael Brown, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. It was not immediately known Monday night which of the vessel’s occupants were located.
Weather conditions when rescue crews searched the scene Sunday consisted of heavy snow, winds up to 60 mph and six-foot seas. Officials found seven empty cold-water immersion suits — four in the waters of the bay and on land, and it was not known if they had been worn — plus two strobe lights during a search that lasted nearly 24 hours until it was called off pending further developments.
The boat had delivered a catch of halibut and black cod to the Alaska Glacier Seafoods Inc. dock in Juneau on Saturday, Nov. 30, and was heading out for one final run before the end of the fishing season shortly before the sinking occurred, the Anchorage Daily News reported last week.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com.
