Search Suspended for Missing Crew Member

AP/Jim Paulin The search for a missing crew member of a Seattle-based fishing trawler, which sank on Easter Sunday in the Bering Sea, was suspended indefinitely today. Rescuers have come to admit there is no hope finding Satashi Konno, the ships fish master, alive.

Shortly before 3am on Easter Sunday, the Alaska Coast Guard received a mayday call from the Seattle-based, Alaskan Ranger. The fishing trawler was flooding, taking on water in its rudder room. The ship sank en route to Mackerel grounds in a stormy Bering Sea, with 20-foot waves and 30 mph winds. Four crew members, including the captain, died of hypothermia when the ship sank. Forty-two members of the crew were rescued, plucked out of the Bering Sea by Coast Guard helicopters and rescue ships. Some of the survivors had been in the Bering Sea for upwards of four hours before being rescued.

The Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board began official investigations yesterday into the boats sinking. So far, there is no clear cause as to why the trawler sank. The survivors of the accident are currently en route to Dutch Harbor and are expected to arrive later today.