A 15-year-old boy from Savoonga, Alaska, has told rescuers his older brother and a cousin died after their fishing skiff capsized in the Bering Sea, leaving him alone atop the overturned hull for nearly two days before he was found.
Derek Parker Aghnaanga was spotted Monday morning clinging to the capsized boat roughly four miles east of St. Lawrence Island. He had set out Friday from Savoonga with his 35-year-old brother, Sidney Kulowiyi, and their cousin on a fishing trip, with plans to return early Sunday. When the group failed to come back, family members reported them missing Sunday night, triggering a search by the U.S. Coast Guard, Alaska State Troopers and other agencies.
Adam White, captain of the fishing vessel Northwest Explorer, told Anchorage affiliate KTUU-TV what Aghnaanga told him once pulled from the water.
“Through the teeth chattering, he had mentioned that his brother was still under the skiff,” White said. “And then he said that, in the previous night, before our rescue, that his cousin had slipped away.”
A GoFundMe page set up by relatives said Aghnaanga had tried to hold onto both his brother and his cousin after they died, before their bodies were eventually recovered.
A U.S. Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules aircrew from Air Station Kodiak located the teen on the overturned vessel and dropped a survival raft and equipment before firing flares to direct the Northwest Explorer to the site. Crew members pulled Aghnaanga aboard and recovered the bodies of Kulowiyi and the cousin. The teen was showing signs of hypothermia and was wrapped in blankets and warmed with hot packs during the trip to Nome.
Colleen Walker, an aunt of the two brothers, described Kulowiyi as a commercial fishing captain who provided for the community of Savoonga, a village of roughly 800 residents where halibut fishing is central to daily life.
“We all cried and jumped for joy when the captain announced on the radio, ‘We found a kid, he’s alive, he’s alive,'” Walker told The Associated Press.
Kulowiyi left behind children, according to the family’s fundraiser, which had raised more than $42,000 toward a $45,000 goal as of Monday morning.
Rear Adm. Bob Little, commander of the Coast Guard Arctic District, which coordinated the search alongside the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center, the Alaska Air National Guard’s 176th Wing, Alaska State Troopers and local authorities in Savoonga, offered condolences in a statement.
“Our hearts go out to the families, friends, and communities affected by the tragic loss of these two mariners,” Little said.
Neither the Coast Guard nor Alaska State Troopers have said what caused the skiff to capsize.
