3 men rescued from capsized fishing boat
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Three men were in good condition early Wednesday after being cut from inside the hull of a capsized crab boat off the Oregon coast after a harrowing rescue caught on video the night before.
The 38-foot (11-meter) Pacific Miner was flipped upside-down by large waves and then got caught on rocks in a jetty in Coos Bay, Oregon, as the tide went out. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter on a routine training mission spotted the vessel and launched a rescue, the agency said.
Firefighters cut through the ship's hull with saws and pulled the men out. A tackle shop owner who videotaped the rescue, Rob Gensorek, said it was a miracle the boat didn't wash out to sea and that all the men were saved.
Rescuers heard the men, who were trapped in the upside-down boat in heavy surf, pounding on the hull to signal they were alive, he said in multiple live videos he shot that were posted on the Facebook page of his business, Basin Tackle.
“We got three guys. Three guys saved. That’s everybody, folks. The entire crew’s been saved,” Gensorek can be heard saying.
“Amazing! God bless each one of these men that came out here. Everybody’s out. Everybody’s safe. It’s the most amazing rescue story.”
Coos Bay is about 220 miles (350 kilometers) south of Portland along Oregon's rugged southwestern coast.
The Coast Guard reported breaking waves of eight to 12 feet (2.5 to 3.6 meters) on the Coos Bay bar when the boat capsized.
The accident comes during the height of the season for harvesting Dungeness crab, a winter delicacy in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska that is in high demand. The Pacific Miner had 300 crabs on board, the Coast Guard said.
The crab fishery helps keep many fishermen afloat financially, but it is also perilous. Winter storms can create huge waves and vessels periodically capsize, sometimes with deadly results.
Earlier this month, five fishermen on the crabbing boat Scandies Rose died when their vessel capsized in waters off Alaska, where conditions are so dangerous they have been immortalized in “Deadliest Catch." And three men died last year when the boat they were on capsized off Newport, Oregon last year.
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