3 presumed dead, 1 rescued as boat sinks near Everett

One person has been rescued and three others remained missing from a sinking boat Wednesday afternoon in Possession Sound near Howarth Park, Everett Fire Department officials said.

Five hours later, the search for the three people turned from a rescue to a “recovery” effort, the fire department said in a post on X.

U.S. Coast Guard in a post on X said it had suspended the search for the missing boaters as of 10:45 p.m. Wednesday.

Police spokesperson Natalie Given said a 50-year-old man was rescued from the boat and was uninjured. A woman in her 40s, a man in his 60s and a man in his 20s remained unaccounted for.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier said the crews had been out fishing or shrimping in a 26-foot cuddy cabin boat Wednesday afternoon. The Coast Guard received a distress call around 1 p.m., and a good Samaritan pulled one man out of the water. He was transferred to an Everett rescue vessel, Strohmaier said.

Everett fire crews, Everett police and two Coast Guard boats searched the waters for hours north of Mukilteo Boulevard, near Howarth and Harborview parks. Strohmaier said a Coast Guard helicopter from Port Angeles was helping with search. Department of Fish and Wildlife crews were also on scene, and police used a drone from the shore.

It was unclear what caused the boat to sink.

Crews tried to lift the partially submerged boat out of the water, but their efforts failed, Givens said. Eventually, the boat became fully submerged and officials could not find it.

Weather conditions were mild Wednesday afternoon in Everett with north winds from 5 to 9 mph, according to the National Weather Service. Dogs and kids played along the water at Howarth Park as search boats scanned the water westward. A helicopter circled overhead occasionally.

The weather was similar to a mild day off Everett’s shoreline in November 2020, when a random rogue wave hit a Tulalip Tribal Police patrol boat near Jetty Island, about 3 miles northeast of Howarth Park. Tulalip officers Charlie Cortez and Shawn Edge were swept overboard. Cortez was presumed drowned.

On Wednesday, the Coast Guard crews had continued their search into the evening, with a 45-foot response boat from Seattle and an 87-foot cutter from Port Angeles.