Alaska News

Troopers: Man dies after boat runs aground in Southeast waters

Alaska State Troopers say the body of a 59-year-old man from Kake was found in Southeast waters after the boat he was riding in ran aground.

Troopers were notified of the grounding, in Herring Bay at the southeast end of Admiralty Island, around 1:10 p.m. on Sunday, according to a trooper dispatch posted online. "And one of the occupants, Willis Cavanaugh, 59, of Kake, was missing," the dispatch says.

The Coast Guard was coordinating a search when troopers were told at 4:22 p.m. that a good Samaritan found Cavanaugh's body about a mile offshore from Point Macartney, near the northwestern end of Kupreanof Island, south of Admiralty.

Cavanaugh's family has been told about his death.

The State Medical Examiner requested transport of the body to Anchorage for an autopsy, troopers said.

Jerzy Shedlock

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

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