A 51-year-old Sitka woman died Sunday morning after a boat capsized near the Southeast Alaska city, but two men in the boat were rescued by another vessel in the area, police said.
The Sitka Police Department said they received a 911 call about a capsized boat in the Keyhole by Three Entrance Bay just before 8:30 a.m. The department’s emergency response vessel diverted from another incident and arrived in the area around 9 a.m., police said.
The boat was a 22-foot C-Dory, according to a police spokeswoman. There were three people aboard at the time of the incident.
Mariners in a nearby vessel watched the boat capsize and retrieved two men from the water, police said. The men were identified as Sitka residents Roger Hames, 42, and Jay Stilwall, 56. Both were taken to Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center with injuries, according to police.
A rescue swimmer from a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter retrieved the body of Deanna Moore from inside the boat, police said. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.
A witness said the boat was hit by a wave that pushed it into a rock, where it was hit by another wave that overtook the vessel, pushing it into the rocks and shore and causing the back end to sink, police said.