Two missing after Canadian boat capsizes

SEATTLE – The Coast Guard has called off a search for two Canadian fishermen lost when their ship capsized off Cape Flattery at the northwest tip of the Olympic Peninsula, officials said Wednesday. Two other men were rescued.

The skipper and a Canadian fisheries observer were rescued before nightfall Tuesday, shortly after the 76-foot commercial fishing boat Ocean Tor capsized.

They reported seeing the other two crew members in the chilly water.

The search was called off Wednesday afternoon after nearly 20 hours, Petty Officer Mike Zolzer said.

The Coast Guard cutter Active had searched through the night and was joined Wednesday morning by a helicopter from the Coast Guard’s base at Port Angeles.

“The chances of survival greatly decreased because the two individuals were not wearing survival suits,” Zolzer said.

The typical limit of human survival in the 59-degree water without a survival suit is considered to be about 6 1/2 hours.

The missing men were identified as Kelly Broderick, 49, and Miles Anderson, 42. Their hometowns were not available, Petty Officer Kurt Frederickson said.

Skipper Wade Mathison, 31, was plucked from the hull of his overturned vessel based in Ucluelet, British Columbia, and the fisheries observer, Reginald Westcott, 33, was found in the water, Coast Guard Lt. Matthew Michaelis said earlier.

Both were taken aboard another Canadian fishing boat, the 181-foot Osprey No. 1 of Vancouver, British Columbia, and headed back to Ucluelet on the west coast of Vancouver Island early Wednesday, Michaelis said.

Of the four men aboard, only Westcott was wearing a survival suit, he added. Mathison and Westcott said they last saw Broderick and Anderson in the water, Michaelis said.

It was not clear what type of fishing gear was in use or what kind of fish the vessel was after. Salmon, halibut, sole and other fish are caught in the area just outside the western entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, a passage that divides the U.S. and Canada and provides access to ports in Victoria and Vancouver in British Columbia and Seattle, Tacoma and other inland marine ports in Washington state.

Weather conditions Tuesday evening included winds of up to 21 knots with 6-foot seas, typical for summer weather and normally not likely to cause problems for boats of that size, Coast Guard officials said.

“I wouldn’t say that they were severe conditions,” Petty Officer Jeffrey Pollinger said.

Cause of the capsizing was under investigation, but Mathison indicated the Ocean Tor took some waves over the stern, causing water to pour through an open port into a fish hold.

The Coast Guard dispatched boats and two helicopters shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday following the detection of an emergency radio beacon signal from U.S. waters off Cape Flattery, Pollinger said.