Search efforts are continuing to locate a 23-year-old man reported to have fallen overboard from an oil products tanker some 126 miles south of Sand Point, Alaska, on March 25, the US Coast Guard said.
As informed, District 17 command center watchstanders received notification from the master of the 48,700 dwt Challenge Prelude, stating that they noticed a seaman was missing.
Having conducted a thorough search of the vessel, the master turned the Challenge Prelude around and followed his previous trackline in efforts to locate the missing man, without success.
Watchstanders issued an urgent marine information broadcast and directed the launch of Air Station Kodiak aviation assets.
“We are fully prepared and readily equipped to conduct search patterns and provide search and rescue efforts for this young man. Our primary concern is to locate him and get him out of the water and into the necessary higher medical care,” Lt. Danny Piazza , a Coast Guard District 17 watchstander, said.
At the time of the incident, the ship was en route from Korea’s Port of Onsan to the US Port of Anchorage, VesselsValue’s data shows.
The 2006-built Challenge Prelude flies the flag of Hong Kong and is operated by China’s Island Navigation.