NEWPORT, Ore. — The Coast Guard suspended a search for a missing crab fisherman more than two miles off the Oregon coast.
Rescuers already pulled three of his crew members from the water, Tuesday.
"Based on water temperature and the amount of time he has been in the water, there's no way he could have survived," said Nate Littlejohn with the US Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard received a distress signal from a fishing boat around 5 a.m. and sent a rescue crew after repeatedly trying to contact the vessel over radio, Littlejohn said.
Rescuers hoisted two men into a helicopter who were floating in debris more than two miles outside of Newport. The third man was pulled from the water into a lifeboat, Littlejohn said. The three surviving fishermen are in a Newport hospital and were alive and responsive.
The Coast Guard is investigating what caused the boat to sink.
"The fact that there are three survivors will greatly enhance our investigation," Littlejohn said. "A lot of times when these things happen they remain a mystery."
