Yom Kai Bao Fang 06-25-09
Coast Guard searches for ship crewman missing at sea
By JAMES HALPIN, jhalpin@adn.com
Published: June 26th, 2009
The Coast Guard is searching for a Chinese crewman presumed to have fallen overboard
from a 685-foot container ship crossing the North Pacific Ocean.
The 37-year-old man, who was not immediately named, was last seen aboard the Hong
Kong-flagged Sao Paulo, which was sailing to Mexico, about 11:30 a.m. Thursday.
He was reported missing about seven hours later, when he failed to show up for watch,
the Coast Guard said.
The search area is about 750 miles southwest of Kodiak.
After noticing the man was missing, the Sao Paulo retraced its course and its crew
searched the ship for five hours, the Coast Guard said. The crew was able to account
for all the life jackets and survival gear on board the ship.
The Coast Guard learned of the man's disappearance about 11 p.m. Thursday and issued
an urgent marine broadcast requesting assistance from any vessels in the area.
An HC-130 Hercules aircraft deployed from Kodiak at 1:22 a.m. and reached the search
area at 4:20 a.m. It completed its search without finding the man but dropped a
data marker buoy about 6:30 a.m.
A second Hercules is set to arrive on scene about 3 p.m. and will pick up where
the first left off. It will be able to search about three hours until it needs to
return for fuel, the Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard was reporting seas in the area at 6 feet with winds at 23 mph. The
water temperature was 59 degrees.
Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.
Coast Guard suspends hunt for crewman
The Associated Press, Published: June 26th, 2009
The Coast Guard has suspended its search for a crew member of a container ship who
was presumed to have fallen overboard into the North Pacific Ocean.
Yom Kai Bao Fang, 37, was reported missing late Thursday night from the 685-foot
Sao Paulo, a Hong Kong-flagged vessel en route to Mexico.
The search area is about 750 miles southwest of Alaska's Kodiak Island. Two Coast
Guard helicopters covered a search area of 1,700 square miles. The Sao Paulo crew
also retraced the ship's previous course.
Yom, a Chinese national, was last seen at 11:30 a.m. Thursday. He was discovered
missing after he didn't report for his shift seven hours later and could not be
found during a five-hour search of the ship.