Two people died and one person was rescued after a fishing boat sank near Florence early Monday morning.
Siuslaw News first reported Amber and Kyle Novelli, who operated Novelli’s Crab and Seafood in in Florence, were the two people who died after their boat capsized.
Emergency crews received a distress call from the captain of the sinking fishing boat around 2 a.m., according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The captain said everyone aboard was abandoning ship.
Officials say the boat had hit a jetty in the Siuslaw River Bar, where the river meets with the ocean. Waves reached as high as 10 feet near the bar, officials said.
A Coast Guard helicopter crew, with the help of local emergency responders, rescued one man around 3 a.m., according to the Coast Guard.
The two others on board were found unresponsive by 7 a.m., the Coast Guard said.
Amber and Kyle Novelli were the only active commercial crabbers and fishermen who live and work in Florence, according to a 2019 profile of the couple by the Siuslaw News. In the article, Amber discussed the uncertainty and danger of crabbing.
The boat’s sinking follows another that occurred Saturday, in which three men were rescued near Brookings.
