Missing Fisherman’s Body Found off Huntington Beach

HUNTINGTON BEACH — The body of a 19-year-old fisherman whose boat capsized off Huntington Beach less than two weeks ago was found floating in the ocean Thursday near the city’s pier.

Tuan Hoang Ta was fishing with his 27-year-old brother, Khanh Xoang Ta, both of San Bernardino, near an oil island on the night of Nov. 20 when their fishnet caught the propeller, causing the engine to stop, sheriff’s officials said.

Crew members in another boat offered to tow the disabled vessel back to San Pedro in Los Angeles County, where the brothers had started their outing. But 10 minutes into the tow, their 36-foot vessel tipped to one side and began to sink. The older brother jumped off and was able to swim to the assisting boat.

“He looked back and saw the boat capsized over on top of his brother,” Orange County Sheriff’s Sgt. J.R. Wilson said at the time. Authorities surmised that Ta might have been knocked unconscious when the boat overturned and become tangled in the fishing net.

Several boats from the Harbor Patrol, the U.S. Coast Guard and a private towing firm joined a helicopter crew in an unsuccessful search.

A city lifeguard spotted and retrieved the body from the water just 100 feet off the pier about 3:15 p.m. Thursday.