16' Aluminum Boat Capsizes: Three Boaters Dead
Veteran boaters and a priest not wearing PFDs tossed into 44-degree water
The Coast Guard launched an extensive search after their boat capsized near Hammond Oregon on Saturday morning.
Officials with the Coast Guard Astoria station said the bodies of Pastor James Nibler, 54 and Curis Heure, 52 were found shortly after the boat capsized. A third man, 64-year-old Lawrence Nibler, also of Newberg was still missing. Father James Nibler was a pastor at Saint Peter Church in Newberg.
Good Samaritans Find Bodies
A Good Samaritan first noticed the 16-foot aluminum boat overturned in the water near Hammond around 10:30 a.m. Saturday morning. A short while later, another Good Samaritan located the body of one of the deceased in the water near the shoreline at the Clatsop Spit.
When Coast Guard crews arrived at the capsized vessel they found another deceased man tangled in line connected to the overturned boat. One account described the line as connected to a crab pot, another account called it an anchor line.
Crews combed the area on Saturday afternoon using several rescue craft and a helicopter hoping to find Lawrence Nibler alive.
The search was suspended around 6 p.m. Saturday after there was no sign of the 64-year-old and he was presumed drowned.
Crab pot line entangled in prop suspected as cause of capsize
Coast Guard officials said none of the men were wearing a life vest. They had apparently been out in the boat on a weekend crabbing trip.
Bob Coster, search and rescue coordinator at the Coast Guard's Astoria station, says it appears a crab-pot line got tangled on an outboard motor, destabilizing the 16-foot vessel.
Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Bergin said that they believe one of the crabbing lines became entangled in the boat's motor and that is what caused the boat to capsize.
The Coast Guard towed the boat back to a Hammond marina for further investigation. There were no reports of bad weather.
The water temperature was reported to be about 44 degrees for most of the day.
Industry experts say that once a boat has capsized there is little chance of righting it. There are no indications as to why the boaters left their overturned vessel.
The Coast Guard suggests that boaters stay with their overturned vessel because that makes them easier to spot from the air. It also recommends that boaters wear PFDs.