A crewman on the Petersburg seining boat, Legacy, died Tuesday morning while fishing near Point Warde, just south of Wrangell Island. The cause of death is unknown. The U.S. Coast Guard reported the incident to the Wrangell Police Department and Search and Rescue at 7:13 a.m. When responders arrived at the scene, they found 64 year old Paul Kavon unresponsive.
Tim Buness is the Head of Wrangell Search and Rescue. He says that other people on board the boat had been performing CPR on Kavon for roughly an hour by the time they arrived. Search and Rescue transported Kavon to the Wrangell Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. The exact time of death is unknown.
Wrangell police and Wrangell Forest Service law enforcement also responded, according to a preliminary report by Wrangell Police Officer Damon Rohr.
The Coast Guard launched a helicopter from Sitka but turned around when they were notified that Kavon had been unresponsive for an extended period of time.
Next of kin have been contacted. Wrangell police list Kavon’s permanent residence as Oxnard, California. He reportedly lived in Petersburg in the past.
