Divers recovered the bodies of two crew members two weeks after the shrimp boat Pappy’s Pride capsized after colliding with a chemical tanker near Galveston, Texas. The accident left three fishermen dead with one survivor.
The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office conducted the recovery operation Jan. 30, two days after the Coast Guard completed its response and the Pappy’s Pride was moved from the edge of the Galveston Bay entrance channel.
Inside the vessel, deputies found the bodies of Antonio Robles, 44, of Pharr, Texas, and Raymond Herrera, 56, of Texas City, The Daily News of Galveston County reported.
The 81-foot shrimper collided with the 600-foot Bow Fortune Jan. 14 near the Galveston jetties, and Coast Guard officials said Houston-Galveston Vessel Traffic Service watchstanders were contacted with a report of four persons in the water.
Two Coast Guard response boats were launched, and one crew recovered a man while another was taken on by a good Samaritan vessel. But one was declared dead on shore by medical examiners.
The tanker operator, Norway-based Odfjell, reported there was heavy fog at the time of the collision, as the Bow Fortune was inbound under pilotage as the first vessel in a convoy.
A three-day search commenced for the two missing men, and navigation was restricted with the capsized fishing vessel laying at the edge of the ship channel.
“I just see this big ship come out of the fog, and I had maybe 10 seconds to react,” Edison told the station. The Coast Guard said it is continuing to investigate the accident.