Saturday, July 9, 2011

Searching, waiting continues in Baja boat tragedy | Sonora ...


??? It was the middle of the night when 15-foot waves began to crash across the deck of the Erik.
??? The chartered fishing vessel was being thrashed by 60 mile per hour gusts as an unseasonably harsh squall swept across the Sea of Cortez, more than two miles from the nearest land.
??? Sonora resident Bob Higgins had mere minutes to abandon the stricken vessel after bilge pumps failed and the engine room began to fill with water. The 115-foot boat pitched violently and capsized at least three times before disappearing beneath the waves at 2:20 a.m. on Sunday.
??? No sooner had the ship sunk than the raging winds began to die down and the sea returned to a more docile state, Higgins said.
?? ??? He and 42 other fishermen and crew were set adrift on the vast Gulf of California. It was the beginning of a harrowing 12-hour ordeal for Higgins, 65, who survived by clinging to the side of a plastic cooler with four other men.
??? ?I asked God for the strength to see me through,? he said during a phone interview from his hotel in San Felipe. ?Not to save me, but just give me strength to face whatever was in store.?
??? Sonora resident Steven Sloneker, 65, was also among those rescued in the ordeal.
??? Leslie Yee, 65, of Ceres, is the only confirmed death in the accident. However, among seven men still missing are Twain Harte residents Mark Dorland, 62, and Al Mein, 63.
??? Mein?s wife, Sharren Mein, said she was worried Mexican authorities would call off the search for her husband and the other men. She has been in constant contact with the U.S. Consulate and the Coast Guard hoping to grasp any morsel of information about the ill-fated voyage.
??? ?It?s awful, I?ve had no sleep and I?m on the phone all day,? she said.
??? Rescue crews extended their efforts today after planning to end the search operation Wednesday.
??? Mein said her husband was a retired AT&T worker who drove a tank during the Vietnam War. He has gone on fishing trips for the past 10 years with the same core group of fishermen, she said.
??? The loose consortium of fishing buddies hail from various Northern California cities and have chartered the Erik for the past several years. She said each paid about $900 to the company Baja Sportfishing Inc. for the week-long fishing expedition.
??? It was supposed to be a relaxing getaway for the fishermen to land yellow fin tuna and dorado, but by the morning after the sinking, it was clear to Higgins that no rescue was on the way.
??? The captain of the ship failed to send a distress signal prior to the ship going down, he said, and several of the men went into the water without life jackets.
??? Higgins stayed afloat on the cooler for more than 12 hours until a small fishing skiff happened to be in the area and rescued the stranded men. He was among the first to be rescued from the water and returned to the nearby fishing village of San Felipe to launch a search for the other men.
??? Higgins, who is a local fishing guide, said he expected to return to Tuolumne County by Friday and began to choke up at the prospect of seeing his grandchildren again.
??? He reflected on his experience by saying that he was glad to be alive, but it was hard to rejoice over his rescue knowing that so many of his friends were still lost at sea.
??? ?I?m really looking forward to coming home,? he said.

??? Contact Ryan Campbell at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 588-4526.

Source: http://www.uniondemocrat.com/20110707104085/News/Local-News/Searching-waiting-continues-in-Baja-boat-tragedy

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