1 dead and 2 missing after boat capsizes off Oregon coast in ‘graveyard of the Pacific’

ASTORIA Ore. (KPTV) - A person is dead and a man and an 11-year-old boy are missing after a boat carrying five people capsized near Astoria on Saturday, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

At about 10:30 a.m., three Coast Guard boats and one helicopter responded to the area off the Columbia River Bar after call reporting a “pleasure boat” had capsized.

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According to a USCG spokesperson, crews were able to rescue three of the five people and take them to a hospital.

On Sunday, the Coast Guard said one of the rescued people later died in the hospital. The condition of the other two rescued people is not known.

The final two people, a 54-year-old man and an 11-year-old boy, are still missing.

The USCG said an aircrew from Astoria and a boat crew from Cape Disappointment spent most of Saturday searching. Just after 9 p.m., they ended the search without finding either person.

Oregon State Parks reports about two thousand ships have sunk at the Columbia River Bar since record-keeping began.

Jeff Keightley has worked off the Oregon coast for 15 years running Astoria Fishing Charter and Guide Service, and estimates he’s crossed the bar thousands of times. He said that’s no easy feat.

“I think everybody knows it’s called the graveyard of the Pacific,” Keightley said. “Current rushes out and gets into that swell and it curls and breaks, and that’s a really bad place to put your boat.”

Keightley said a life jacket might mean the difference between life and death.

“Know your limits. And if you don’t know your limits you need to learn from someone who has experience crossing the bar.”

This is a developing story and updates will be added as available.