At 5:31 am on February 23rd the Coast Guard received an electronic position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) from the Northern Dawn. Beacons are triggered when they hit saltwater. The signal placed the vessel at two miles off the Bering Sea side of Unalaska Island. Unalaska Island is about 800 miles southwest of Anchorage.
An Urgent Marine Information Broadcast was issued immediately. A C-130 aircraft, an HH-60 helicopter, the Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley and its helicopter, were dispatched to the area. A nearby fishing vessel, the Pinnacle, also took part in the search.
The searchers found a life ring and the EPIRB. They also located a small oily sheen in the water. The vessel and the men were not found.
Scott Trible, 35, of Anchorage, and Frank Richard, 43, of Federal Way, WA were on board the Northern Dawn out of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, when it disappeared. They were collecting empty pots from the Baridi tanner crab fishery at the time of the incident.
Sources: US Coast Guard, Juneau Empire & Anchorage Daily News
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