 March 13, 2006
The crew of the fishing vessel Slayer, Richard Nebert, 42, of Juneau and Matthew Young, 18, of Sitka, got out a brief mayday call at 6:54 a.m. on Friday before presumably going down four and a half miles south of Point Gardner. The first Coast Guard helicopter from Air Station Sitka arrived on scene within 50 minutes of the distress call and with assistance from a Good Samaritan, found only a survival suit, life ring, and a partially inflated life raft belonging to the stricken vessel. On scene conditions at the time of the incident included 35-40 knot winds, 8 to 12 foot seas, and a 40 degree Fahrenheit water temperature. A Coast Guard spokesperson stated that "suspending the search in a case like this where we have not found any survivors is always a difficult decision", but after three days of intense searching the two men remain missing. Coast Guard marine safety personnel are investigating the incident.
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