Five rescued after fishing vessel runs aground

A Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued five people from the fishing vessel Oracle after it ran aground near False Pass in Southwest Alaska early Thursday. The Coast Guard received a distress call at 4:48 a.m. An MH-60 Jayhawk crew from Kodiak, which had been deployed to Cold Bay, reached the 58-foot vessel by 6:16 a.m.

Some of the crew had minor injuries. The Coast Guard said the five were taken to a clinic in Cold Bay. Coast Guard video shows surf breaking around the Oracle as a crew member comes up in a rescue basket to the helicopter.

Buck Laukitis of Homer owns the Oracle. He said the boat was featured in an Anchorage Daily News story in November 2025 about longline fishing for halibut. The vessel has also been used for pot fishing for Pacific cod and black cod and for tendering salmon.

Laukitis said he recently put money into a new ice system for the Oracle. The system makes a slurry of sea water and small ice crystals that cools fish fast to keep quality up. His daughters, Emma and Claire, describe the ice technology on the website of Salmon Sisters, their Homer business that sells Alaska fish and Xtratuf boots.

Laukitis said Thursday evening he had been in touch with Resolve Marine about a possible salvage effort for the Oracle. "We can't thank them enough. They were very quick, and everybody's fine," he said of the Coast Guard crew. "We're just trying to process everything."

Laukitis also spoke about the work that goes into a boat like the Oracle. "You think of how many thousands and thousands and thousands of man hours go into a boat like that to keep it up," he said. "It's sad."