Alaska News

Coast Guard searches for missing boater near Auke Bay

For the second day, the Coast Guard is searching for a missing boater in the area of Coghlan Island near Auke Bay in Southeast Alaska.

Fifty-two-year-old Paul Keithahn's wife said she hasn't heard from her husband since Saturday, the Coast Guard reported in a news release.

Coghlan Island is about 11 miles northwest of Juneau.

Passers-by spotted the pleasure craft "Spellbound" turning in circles near the island on Monday afternoon, said Petty Officer 1st Class Shawn Eggert. The boat was reportedly unmanned, he said.

A response boat and auxiliary vessel from the Coast Guard's Station Juneau, as well as an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Sitka began searching for Keithahn after receiving the report from the good Samaritans.

Coast Guard responders were able to get aboard the boat and shut it down, Eggart said.

"The Station Juneau crew investigated the vessel and found it to be unoccupied with the man's cellular phone still aboard," the news release says. Eggart said he wasn't made aware of other items that raised red flags, but the phone is certainly cause for concern.

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Spellbound was towed to Auke Bay and secured by the Juneau Police Department.

Crews continued searching throughout the day, and the Coast Guard Cutter Liberty, a 110-foot patrol boat operating in the coastal waters of Southeast, joined those efforts Monday evening.

The search is continuing Tuesday, Eggart said. Weather during the search efforts has been calm, with clear skies and still waters, he said.

"The Coast Guard has reached out to good Samaritans in the area of Coghlan Island for additional information and is conducting an extensive search of the surrounding waters," said Cmdr. Marc Burd, chief of response with Coast Guard Sector Juneau.

Anyone who saw Keithahn or his vessel over the weekend is asked to call the Coast Guard's Juneau Command Center at 1-907-463-2980.

In April 2007, former state legislator Bruce Weyhrauch fell off his boat and swam to Coghlan Island. He told an Anchorage Daily News reporter he swam for about an hour before reaching its shore, where he spent the night fighting off cold and mosquitoes.

Jerzy Shedlock

Jerzy Shedlock is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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