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The US Coast Guard launched a search after three individuals from Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island failed to return from a halibut fishing trip as scheduled on Sunday. The 15-year-old Derek Parker Aghnaanga, his 35-year-old brother Sidney Kulowiyi and their cousin had set out the previous Friday in an 18-foot skiff, according to the agency and family statements to multiple news organizations. The vessel capsized on Saturday when the motor became entangled in a fishing line during bad weather, family members told The New York Times. Darren Toolie-Noongwook, another brother of Aghnaanga, provided further details on the sequence of events.
Darren Toolie-Noongwook told NBC News that the group struggled to free the line before the boat flipped. Sidney Kulowiyi drowned first, followed by the cousin who panicked, jumped overboard and swam only a few feet before disappearing beneath the waves. The teenager managed to climb atop the hull and spent the ensuing days praying while affirming to himself that he would be rescued, according to Toolie-Noongwook. The boy had no food or water during that period.
With water temperatures around 10 degrees Celsius, the boy exhibited signs of hypothermia by the time of his rescue, the US Coast Guard said. His mother, Vina Kulowiyi, wrote on Facebook that he was never afraid throughout the ordeal and that the pair had been supplying meat to their community where store access is limited. Toolie-Noongwook said the survivor remained on his knees in prayer for much of the time adrift. Vina Kulowiyi added that her sons were doing what they loved.
Search efforts were hampered by poor visibility, with the Coast Guard notified Sunday night but only able to deploy aircraft the following morning after Alaska State Troopers were alerted, according to the Department of Public Safety. A Hercules aircraft spotted the overturned skiff roughly eight miles from its last known position on Monday and dropped survival gear along with flares to guide responders. The agency then directed the nearby fishing vessel Northwest Explorer to the location. Video from the scene documented the extraction.
Captain Adam White of the Northwest Explorer described the teenager as one tough kid after his crew pulled him aboard, telling KTUU-TV that despite chattering teeth the boy detailed how his brother remained under the boat and his cousin had slipped away the night prior. The crew blasted its horn several times to offer hope as it approached. The bodies of the two deceased were subsequently recovered, the Coast Guard reported.
A NIOSH assessment found that while commercial fishing fatalities in Alaska have decreased by 70 percent over the past three decades, vessel disasters leading to drownings remain a primary cause. Federal reports place the population of Savoonga at roughly 700 residents who are predominantly Yupik and rely heavily on marine resources for subsistence. The US Coast Guard continues to investigate the circumstances surrounding the capsizing.
