Alaska Coast Guard searching for missing Chinese crewmember in North Pacific Ocean

	Office of Public Affairs U.S. Coast Guard Seventeenth District

News Release	Date: June 26, 2009 Contact: Petty Officer 3rd Class Charly Hengen Phone: (907) 487-5700
Alaska Coast Guard searching for missing Chinese crewmember in North Pacific Ocean
KODIAK, Alaska – The Coast Guard is searching for a 37-year-old Chinese crewmember presumed to have fallen overboard from the 685-foot container ship Sao Paulo approximately 754 miles southwest of Kodiak in the North Pacific Ocean. The man was last seen aboard the ship at 11:30 a.m. Thursday and was discovered missing approximately seven hours later after he didn’t report for watch. The Sao Paulo retraced its previous course and searched the ship for five hours. All the life jackets and survival gear on board were also accounted for. The Coast Guard 17^th District Rescue Coordination Center in Juneau was notified of the missing man at approximately 11 p.m. Thursday from the Sao Paulo and issued an urgent marine information broadcast to request the assistance of any vessels in the area. An HC-130 Hercules aircraft from Air Station Kodiak was launched at 1:22 a.m. and reached the search area at 4:20 a.m. and has since completed its search. A self-locating data marker buoy was deployed from the aircraft at 6:30 a.m. A second Hercules is scheduled to arrive on scene about 3 p.m. and will search about three hours before having to return for fuel. Weather conditions in the search area are seas of six feet, winds of 23 mph and a water temperature of 59 degrees. The man was wearing a light blue jacket and dark blue pants when he was last seen. The Sao Paulo is a Hong Kong-flagged vessel and was sailing to Mexico.
### The United States Coast Guard -- Proud History. Powerful Future.

printer friendly