On Sunday, two boaters have been rescued from the surf after their vessel capsized near Nehalem Bay, Oregon. The Coast Guard first received a call for help on VHF Channel twenty-two and called upon a 47-foot motor lifeboat already underway to search the area. The Coast Guard received further information from witnesses indicating sighting a capsized vessel near the mouth of the Nehalem River. The Coast Guard located the two boaters in the surf zone and as they approached to make the rescue report that both boaters went under the water surface several times. The accident happed around 7:30 A.M., the air and water temperature were reported as 48 and 59 degrees. Exposure to cold water can quickly lead to hypothermia in accidents such as this. The Coast Guard indicates that wearing life jackets was instrumental in being able to survive the incident.
In other Coast Guard news, the search for a missing Washington boater has been suspended. 52-year-old Brian Schmitz’ 16-foot boat was spotted unmanned and adrift on the Columbia River near Portland on Saturday. An extensive air and water search for Schmitz failed to locate any signs of the man. The Coast Guard indicates there was evidence that the man had likely had fallen overboard. It is unknown weather Schmitz was wearing a personal floatation device.
In other regional news, search was suspended Friday for an Alaska cruise ship passenger missing from the 965 foot Norwegian Pearl. Thursday an unidentified 24-year-old woman passenger was reported missing from the cruise ship. Search of the vessel and review of videotapes from the cruise ship reveal the woman had gone overboard while the vessel was cruising in Lynn Canal. The circumstances of how the woman had gone overboard were not revealed, but the Coast Guard statement indicated the fall overboard was not “suspicious”. The cruise ship was on an eight-day cruise from Seattle to Glacier Bay.
The Norwegian Pearl is one of 15 cruise ships owned by the Norwegian Cruise Lines. The vessel is registered in the Bahama’s and regularly cruises in Alaska and the Caribbean depending upon the time of the year.