Molalla man missing, feared lost at sea off Alaskan coast
0 Comments Published by Pioneer Staff on Friday, September 28, 2007 at 7:36 PM.
By Abby Sewell
Molalla Pioneer
A Molalla man was lost at sea during a fishing expedition off the Alaska coast on Monday.
For the last 20 years, according to family members, 36-year-old Steve Reutov has spent each summer on commercial fishing expeditions in Alaska, usually from May through the end September. During the winter months, he returned to Molalla, where he did construction work with his brothers.
Reutov had packed up his apartment in the town of Cordova and was ready to head back to his home in Oregon when he took to the water for one more fishing expedition on Monday morning.
“He was right in the middle of picking his gear, and it looks like the wave got him,” Reutov's sister-in-law Maria Reutov said.
The Coast Guard got a call from Reutov’s brother at about 9 p.m. that night, saying that he was overdue to return to harbor.
A helicopter found the 32-foot aluminum fishing vessel about three hours later, beached on the west side of nearby Egg Island. The crew located a survival suit, life ring and a strobe light in the surf near the vessel, but found no sign of Reutov.
Aircraft searches began again the next morning, saturating the area for 15 hours, according to a Coast Guard press release, but ended without results at 7:52 p.m. on Tuesday.
The last sighting of Reutov, by another fishing vessel, occurred at about 1 p.m. on Monday.
On Friday, although no body was found, Maria said his family was preparing for a funeral in Molalla, where Reutov and his wife have lived for the past 10 years.
Reutov left behind an tight knit extended family of brothers and sisters in Molalla, along with his wife Paula, four daughters and a baby son.
“Everyone loved him,” Paula Reutov said. “Not one person could say anything negative about him. He was an excellent husband and an excellent father.”
Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Valdez is investigating the incident.
Molalla Pioneer
A Molalla man was lost at sea during a fishing expedition off the Alaska coast on Monday.
For the last 20 years, according to family members, 36-year-old Steve Reutov has spent each summer on commercial fishing expeditions in Alaska, usually from May through the end September. During the winter months, he returned to Molalla, where he did construction work with his brothers.
Reutov had packed up his apartment in the town of Cordova and was ready to head back to his home in Oregon when he took to the water for one more fishing expedition on Monday morning.
“He was right in the middle of picking his gear, and it looks like the wave got him,” Reutov's sister-in-law Maria Reutov said.
The Coast Guard got a call from Reutov’s brother at about 9 p.m. that night, saying that he was overdue to return to harbor.
A helicopter found the 32-foot aluminum fishing vessel about three hours later, beached on the west side of nearby Egg Island. The crew located a survival suit, life ring and a strobe light in the surf near the vessel, but found no sign of Reutov.
Aircraft searches began again the next morning, saturating the area for 15 hours, according to a Coast Guard press release, but ended without results at 7:52 p.m. on Tuesday.
The last sighting of Reutov, by another fishing vessel, occurred at about 1 p.m. on Monday.
On Friday, although no body was found, Maria said his family was preparing for a funeral in Molalla, where Reutov and his wife have lived for the past 10 years.
Reutov left behind an tight knit extended family of brothers and sisters in Molalla, along with his wife Paula, four daughters and a baby son.
“Everyone loved him,” Paula Reutov said. “Not one person could say anything negative about him. He was an excellent husband and an excellent father.”
Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Valdez is investigating the incident.
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