SANTA CRUZ ISLAND : Ocean Floor Search Fails to Find Vil Vana

A 19-hour search of the ocean floor off Santa Cruz Island did not turn up any trace of the lost fishing trawler Vil Vana, the U.S. Coast Guard said Friday.

The Coast Guard, with the U.S. Navy’s help, conducted the search earlier this week using a Navy sonar research vessel. Special equipment aboard that vessel allowed the crew to videotape its search for the ill-fated Vil Vana in the Santa Barbara shipping channel.

The Vil Vana disappeared under unknown circumstances west of Santa Cruz Island on April 9, 1993. The vessel’s crew of seven was lost in the accident and no bodies were ever recovered.

Last month, Santa Barbara marine researchers attempting to collect ocean-floor sediment accidentally snagged shrimp traps and rubber buoys marked with the Vil Vana’s name.

Coast Guard officials had hoped the discovery would help them find additional wreckage or equipment from the Vil Vana, but that did not happen. The search yielded a large field of old lobster traps and lines embedded on the ocean floor, but none bore the name of the Vil Vana, officials said.

The search’s chief investigator, Lt. Cmdr. Pete Rennard, was not available for comment late Friday. It was unclear whether another search would be attempted.