2 Men Found Dead in Sea Off Newport Beach

Coast Guard searchers Tuesday recovered the bodies of two men about 10 miles off Newport Beach and used aircraft to hunt for other victims who may have been been aboard a boat that sank in a heavily traveled shipping corridor.

Family members identified one of the men as Khanh Nguyen, 50, of Alhambra, but the other man had not been identified by late Tuesday, according to Scott Carrier, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.

Authorities received no distress calls early Tuesday morning and had not determined what happened to the two men or their boat. Coast Guard radio reports indicated that rescuers had found nets registered to a commercial fishing boat.

Carrier said relatives told investigators that Nguyen and a friend set out on a fishing outing late Monday night. He said the relatives did not know the friend’s name or where the boat was docked. The family got worried when Nguyen did not return by Tuesday morning and called authorities after hearing reports that the bodies had been found.

Neither of the men was wearing a life jacket. One was found clutching a life preserver and the other was holding on to a boat fender, a plastic barrel hung over the side of a boat to cushion the vessel from striking the dock while it is being moored, according to Coast Guard spokeswoman Liz Brannan.