4 Men May Have Died in Boat Sinking : Accident: Authorities have recovered bodies of only two fishermen. One of the other victims apparently was the boat owner, who spent $30,000 making craft seaworthy.

The Coast Guard said Thursday that four men may have died off Newport Beach in the apparent sinking of a San Pedro fishing boat whose owner recently spent $30,000 to fix up.

The four men were thought to be fishing with gill nets aboard a 45-foot vessel named Tammy, which disappeared in a busy shipping lane early this week. The bodies of two men--Nhieu Van Nguyen, 52, a licensed fisherman from El Monte, and Khanh Nguyen, 50, of Alhambra--were recovered amid boat debris Tuesday morning. The discovery set off a one-day air and sea search by the Coast Guard, but the vessel and the other two bodies have not been found.

The boat’s owner, Cong Minh Ta, 54, of San Gabriel is missing and presumed dead, officials said.

Authorities on Thursday identified the fourth man as Gioi Nguyen, 59, of San Pedro, a sometimes fishing partner of the other victims whose son reported him missing.

None of the victims were related, officials said.

As authorities sought answers to the disappearance of the craft, relatives and fellow seamen described commercial gill net fishing as a poorly paid life spent aboard rickety boats.

Tighter regulations have heightened competition among gill net fishermen, who string long nets behind their boats to catch fish and sea cucumbers. Officials say many of the estimated 300 fishing boats docked in Los Angeles Harbor are poorly maintained, lacking good lighting or navigational equipment for work that often goes on at night.

“On the average they’re in really bad shape,” said Coast Guard Petty Officer Randy Reid. “Just being on board for a short time, I’m always worried for my safety--wondering whether it’s going to sink.”

Nhieu Van Nguyen, whose body was spotted by a private boater Tuesday, knew the perils as well as anyone. He escaped with a broken rib when a boat he owned sank three years ago after being struck by a steamer, friends and relatives said. Nguyen was listed as a skipper for two other net-fishing boats. Both sank this year, although he was not aboard, investigators said.

“Nhieu was fishing for his whole life,” said younger brother Kieu Nguyen, 34, of San Gabriel. “When we came here, I told him I could get him another job, doing gardening or cleaning. But he said, ‘No. Only fishing.’ ”

But the Tammy should have been different.

After buying the 30-year-old steel-hull vessel last fall, Ta poured thousands of dollars into building it into a boat suitable for gill net fishing. Nhieu Nguyen was always at his side. During the repairs, a Coast Guard inspector cited Ta for leaking diesel fuel into the harbor and an inspector who went aboard the docked boat had urged him to stop welding because the boat lacked working fire extinguishers. Work on the boat was finished last spring.

“They worked on the boat for about six months,” said Liem Nguyen, 21, Nguyen’s only daughter. “He thought it was just like new.”

In keeping with Vietnamese tradition, Kieu Nguyen will hang a picture of his older brother beside the Buddha, incense and fruit in his San Gabriel house after Saturday’s funeral.

The two brothers left Nha Trang, a city northeast of Saigon known for its exquisite beaches, about 12 years ago and came to California. Their father was a fisherman who regularly took his sons on fishing trips in Vietnam.

Liem Nguyen, joined her father in the United States in 1988. But Nhieu Nguyen’s wife remained in Vietnam because the family did not have enough money to bring her to the United States.

“In my heart, I want to see my mother, but it depends on the money,” Liem Nguyen said.

Kieu Nguyen said he had not seen his brother in about three weeks and learned of his death through television reports. Most recently, Nhieu Nguyen lived in El Monte, but he often stayed with friends elsewhere in the San Gabriel Valley.

“Sometimes I didn’t know where he was staying,” Kieu Nguyen said. “But if I wanted to see him, I’d just go to the docks.”