Two boaters died while four survived after a 21-foot aluminum boat capsized abruptly near Strawberry Island in the Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve on Monday.

The vessel, identified as the Invader, rolled over suddenly when the boaters all moved to one side of the boat to see a fish that was caught on that side.

The incident was discovered, when a passing boat spotted one of the boaters who had made it to shore using a flare to draw attention. The man’s location was reported on the radio and a local charter operator responded to the island, picked up the man and learned of the capsize.[xyz-ihs snippet=”adsense-body-ad”]

Traveling the short distance to the scene, the operator, identified as Jim Kearns of Fairweather Charters, would find another survivor standing waist deep on the hull of the capsized vessel. He would rescue that man and two others. Two more victims were spotted located tangled in seaweed. He could not reach the drowning victims, they would be picked up by the tour vessel, Wilderness Explorer, that was returning from a Glacier Bay tour. The Wilderness Explorer launched two skiff, retrieved the bodies and attempted resuscitation without success.

One of the survivors was transported to Gustavus aboard a Parks Service research vessel then transported on to the hospital in Juneau.

The two drowning victims in the incident were a father and son, 75-year-old Larry Roger McWilliams and 48-year-old Gary Roger McWilliams, both from the West Coast.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adversal-468×60″]

  capsize, charter boat, drowning, gary mcwilliams, glacier bay, invader, larry mcwilliams