Links   E-mail             Print            Advertisement

Authorities and volunteers searched the Columbia River with no luck Friday for three missing Yakama tribal fishermen.

The Yakama Nation released the names of the three men, who have been missing since they went out Tuesday to check their salmon nets from a landing near Carson, Wash. They are Gailen Espirito, James Peter Jr. and Rommel Strom, all enrolled members of the Yakama Nation between 20 and 40 years old.

Peter's father, James Peter, died in a boat accident several years ago while fishing on the Columbia River about 60 miles upstream from Carson, said Sgt. Mitch Hicks of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.

A Yakima Herald-Republic death notice from September 6, 2000, lists James Joseph "Columcus" Peter Sr. dying in Goldendale. Son James J. Peter Jr. was among the survivors.

Friday, five boats searched the river for the men until about 7:30 p.m. as far west as the Bridge of the Gods, while the U.S. Coast Guard briefly searched by helicopter Friday, Hicks said.

The search began Wednesday morning after the fishermen's boat was found near the mouth of the Wind River along the Columbia River, eight miles east of Bonneville Dam in Skamania County.

Divers probed the waters on Thursday but found nothing.

The fishermen were last seen Tuesday night motoring out into the river.

Although there has been no sign of the fishermen, officials said they will keep looking.

"The search will continue indefinitely," Hicks said. "Either until we decide it's a futile effort or they're found."

Search leaders may try using sonar equipment again today if winds stay calm, Hicks said. They tried Thursday with no luck; winds kept them from bringing it back Friday.

Forecasts for today called for winds eight to 11 mph, increasing to between 17 and 20 mph, according to the National Weather Service. Sunday could bring gusts up to 32 miles per hour.