Boat rammed into salmon pen off Port Angeles Harbor, Washington State, USA.
My Clallam County reports that at about 9:45pm on Thursday night, Robert Elliot, 62, along with two other men and a boy, were cruising at an unknown speed in what’s been described as a small boat with no lights when they hit the pen.
Additional reporting from Q13 Fox writes that a Coast Guard rescue spotted someone on the boat attempting CPR on an unresponsive person and then lowered a rescue swimmer who swam to a platform on the salmon pen to help with resuscitation efforts.
All four people were brought to emergency medical technicians at the pier. The Port Angeles Police Department reported that one of the injured adults aboard the boat was declared dead.
Officials said the Cooke Aquaculture salmon pens were not in use when the crash happened.
The incident is under investigation.
In an email to SalmonBusiness, a Cooke spokesperson wrote:
“Yesterday, on July 31, the U.S. Coast Guard 13th District Pacific Northwest reported that crews rescued two adults and one child after a 20-foot personal craft collided with a salmon pen resulting in the death of one adult male in Port Angeles Harbor, Tuesday night. And that the cause of the incident is under investigation by the Clallam County Marine Unit and the Port Angeles Police Department.
“Cooke Aquaculture Pacific, the operator of the fish farm pen is cooperating fully in this investigation. Cooke Aquaculture Pacific wishes to express condolences to the family of the deceased.”
