Pollock trawler ablaze northeast of Unalaska
Monday, February 25 2008
Unalaska, AK – A large fishing boat is on fire in the Bering Sea 136 miles northeast of Unalaska, with no reported injuries or fatalities as of 9 p.m. Tuesday night.
The U.S. Coast Guard and other ships in the Bering Sea fishing fleet were evacuating crew members from the 276-foot Pacific Glacier, a Seattle-based factory trawler, on Tuesday night. The cause of the blaze is unknown.
Coast Guard Lt. Eric Eggen said that as of 8:45 p.m. 90 of the 106 crew members had gotten off the boat and onto another vessel in the area. The remaining 16 were staying onboard to fight the fire.
Eggen said that the Coast Guard was sending both an aircraft and a cutter to the scene.
"A C-130 has been diverted from another mission, and the Coast Guard Cutter [Alex] Haley is en route as well," he said.
A Coast Guard helicopter was also on its way from St. Paul Island.
The Pacific Glacier was fishing for pollock in the Bering Sea, and is owned by the Glacier Fish Co. of Seattle. Representatives of the company reached Tuesday night declined to comment on the incident.