Search suspended for 4 missing off Wash. coast

GENE JOHNSON

SEATTLE (AP) — The Coast Guard has released the names of four men presumed dead after their fishing trawler disappeared off the Washington coast after sending a distress signal.

They are 42-year-old Dave Nichols and 38-year-old Jason Bjaranson of Warrenton, Ore.; 25-year-old Chris Langel of Kaukauna, Wis.; and 22-year-old Luke Jensen of Ilwaco, Wash.

The Coast Guard suspended its search for the men Sunday.

Petty Officer Shawn Eggert says crews in Coast Guard cutters and a helicopter covered 640 square miles after the 70-foot Lady Cecelia sent a distress signal early Saturday. He says they searched longer than anyone might have survived in the water.

Rescue crews searched through the night after finding debris, an empty lifeboat and an oil sheen several miles off the coast. The search was called off before midday Sunday.