It was at approximately 6:15 pm on the Fourth of July that a report went in to Coast Guard Sector Anchorage advising them that the 45-foot purse seining vessel Elohim had capsized while transiting Port Valdez with four adults aboard.

Another vessel, the Infinite Grace recovered the four victims of the sinking. The Infinite Grace also attached to the Elohim and towed the capsized vessel to the Mineral Creek mooring buoy and secured it there. The crew members from the stricken vessel were transported to the Valdez small boat harbor.

It is estimated  that the capsized vessel had a 900 gallon fuel capacity, but there was no report of escaping oil. The vessel owner deployed oil boom around the vessel as a precaution.

On Saturday morning, the vessel owner contracted with Cordova-based Alaska Marine Response LLC to assist in salvaging the vessel. The salvage efforts are being coordinated by Coast Guard Safety Unit Valdez with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation as well as other state and federal agencies.

The Homer-based vessel had approximately 500 pounds of salmon aboard at the time of the incident.

The investigation in the capsizing is continuing.

  Alaska, Coast Guard, elohim, infinite grace, sinking, valdez