Fishing Boat From Canada Capsizes; 2 Rescued, 2 Missing

A Canadian fishing boat capsized off the Washington coast and the U.S. Coast Guard searched for hours Wednesday for two crew members who were not wearing survival suits in the chilly water.

The skipper and a Canadian fisheries observer were rescued before nightfall Tuesday. The two men told the Coast Guard that they last saw the other crew members in the water.

The search for the remaining crew members was called off after nearly 20 hours, Petty Officer Mike Zolzer said.

“The chances of survival greatly decreased because the two individuals were not wearing survival suits,” he said.

The Coast Guard found the overturned boat, the 76-foot Ocean Tor, about two hours after responding to an emergency beacon from U.S. waters off Cape Flattery, the northernmost point of the West Coast.

The cause of the capsizing was still being investigated, but skipper Wade Mathison indicated that the boat took waves over the stern, letting water into a fish hold.

The Coast Guard said weather conditions at the time -- 21-knot winds and 6-foot seas -- were not likely to cause problems for a boat that size.

Mathison, 31, was plucked from the boat’s hull, and the fisheries observer, Reginald Westcott, 33, was found in the water, Coast Guard Lt. Matthew Michaelis said. Both men were taken aboard another Canadian boat to return to their home port of Ucluelet, British Columbia.

The missing crew members were identified as Kelly Broderick, 49, and Miles Anderson, 42.