Man presumed dead after boat runs aground in Southeast Alaska, stranding woman and dog on rock for more than 24 hours
Dec. 1—A 27-year-old man is presumed dead after his boat ran aground Sunday in Southeast Alaska and he went overboard, Alaska State Troopers said.
A woman and dog also on the boat were rescued after being stranded on a rock for more than 24 hours, troopers said.
Point Baker resident Arne Dahl left with the woman and dog from their home to search nearby beaches for firewood, said troopers spokesman Austin McDaniel. They were traveling in a boat identified as the F/V Randi Jo.
Around 4:30 p.m. Sunday, the vessel ran aground near Point Baker, according to troopers. Point Baker is located on Prince of Wales Island roughly 140 miles south of Juneau.
Dahl and the woman, with the dog, got into a skiff and made it to a small rock before the boat and skiff were lost, troopers said.
Dahl went overboard, troopers wrote. He was last seen trying to swim toward another nearby island from the rock that the woman and dog were on, McDaniel said.
The woman and dog remained stranded on the rock through the night and into Monday afternoon before a good Samaritan vessel rescued them, troopers said. The woman declined medical attention. Troopers were notified about the situation on Monday around 2:15 p.m.
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The U.S. Coast Guard and Wrangell Search and Rescue searched the area where Dahl was last seen for multiple hours, but did not find him, troopers said.
Search efforts by the Coast Guard and troopers have been suspended, McDaniel said Wednesday afternoon. Dahl was not expected to have survived the conditions and is presumed dead, he said.
