Search for four crabbers suspended; men believed to have died
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The crew — ship's master Bob Thompson, 40; Stephen Langlot, 34; Benjamin Eder, 21, and Jarred Hammrick, 20, all from the Newport area — couldn't have survived the cold water, a Coast Guard spokesman said.
"We knew exactly where they should be," said Lt. Peter Jones, "and we're very confident that if there were someone there we would have found them."
Just hours after the crab fishermen set out from port, the crew of another commercial boat saw the capsized Nesika and called for help. The vessel was found floating upside down in 10-foot seas, about a mile off Yaquina Head.
The Coast Guard sent three boats and a helicopter to search the area. Commercial fishermen — including Benjamin Eder's father, Bob — joined in. Bob Eder owns the capsized boat and is president of the Newport Crabbers' Association.
Soon after the Coast Guard arrived, a helicopter crew lowered a rescue swimmer into the water next to the overturned boat.
"He banged on the hull to see if he could determine if anyone was trapped inside," Jones said. "He didn't receive any response."
The crew on another crab boat reported seeing two people in the water, but they disappeared before they could be retrieved. The two didn't appear to be wearing survival suits.
The accident happened two years after two Newport fishermen died when their boat, the Blue Heather, rammed into the Yaquina Bay north jetty. In 1994, four Oregon fishermen died when their boat overturned while navigating the Yaquina Bay bar.
"Every time this happens, there's just a tremendous outpouring of emotions," said Terry Thompson, a longtime fisherman and former state legislator.
Crab fishermen are the most skilled and experienced sailors because they often face the most dangerous sea conditions, he said.