73-year-old dies after inflatable boat capsizes
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Pacific City, OR (KPTV) — A 73-year-old man died after his inflatable boat capsized near Haystack Rock on Wednesday morning, according to the Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office.
The man, from West Linn, had recently finished laying crab pots in the bay and was fishing south of Haystack Rock with a 19-year-old-man.
The 19-year-old, of southeast Portland, called 911 at approximately 10:49 a.m. after the boat was capsized by a swell, the sheriff’s office says.
The 19-year-old told dispatch that the 73-year-old man was in the water about 30 feet from his boat, unresponsive and drifting farther away.
The sheriff’s office, the U.S. Coast Guard, and Nestucca Rural Fire responded, and at approximately 11:13 a.m., the 73-year-old man was was pulled from the water by helicopter.
Rescuers immediately began providing lifesaving measures and transported him to Pacific City Airport to awaiting medical crews, but the man did not survive.
Both men were wearing inflatable life preservers at the time of the rescue effort. Authorities believe a medical condition may have possibly contributed to the initial capsize, as the 73-year-old man had been piloting the boat when he had suddenly jerked the rudder and was unresponsive immediately upon entering the water, according to the sheriff’s office.
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