By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
After two days of searching and no new leads, the Coast Guard Monday afternoon suspended the hunt for a kayaker missing since Sunday morning in Sitka area waters.
The search for Kale Pastel, 36, started Sunday morning after he was reported overdue kayaking the five miles from Japonski Island to Birdsnest Bay.
The Coast Guard said the multi-agency search was suspended at 3:53 p.m. Monday.
“After searching by air and sea for over 45 hours and 111 square miles the Coast Guard made the calculated decision to suspend the search for Mr. Pastel,” said Lauren Dean, Coast Guard public affairs specialist in Kodiak. “These decisions are not easy to make.”
Pastel, of Sitka, was believed to have left the UAS-Sitka ramp at 4:30 a.m. Sunday, headed across Eastern Channel to Birdsnest Bay for a hunting trip. When he didn’t arrive by 10:15 a.m. his girlfriend called the Coast Guard, the agency said. Birdsnest Bay is southeast of Sitka on Eastern Channel between Camp Coogan and No Thorofare bays.
At 1:15 p.m. Sunday searchers spotted Pastel’s overturned and empty double kayak at Cannon Island in Jamestown Bay, but discovered later a boater had towed it in after finding it adrift between Rocky Patch and Camp Coogan.
The Coast Guard was the lead agency on the search, which involved Air Station Sitka helicopters, the Coast Guard Aids to Navigation vessel from Sitka, the Ketchikan-based Coast Guard Cutter Bailey Barco, the U.S. Forest Service vessel, and Sitka Police and Fire Departments.
The SFD search and rescue squad, which collected information to help direct the search, is standing down unless the Coast Guard opens the search up again, Fire Chief Dave Miller said.
“We’re sort of at a standstill until that point in time ... Until something is found or more information comes in, we’re at a stop right now,” Miller said.
The chief noted that there was a good response from the SAR squad. “We had 10 to 12 people able to volunteer their time - some took time off to make it happen,” he said.
Capt. Mike Frawley, commanding officer of the Coast Guard Air Station Sitka, said, “This is a tough case and hits hard to all of us here in Sitka. We are a small, close-knit community which was evident by the out-pouring of volunteer searchers.”
“We just want to say thank you to all the volunteers who came out to assist with the search,” Dean added. “We want to offer his family our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.”
