Two crew members were rescued Wednesday night when their fishing boat sank near the mouth of the Kenai River.
People at the Beluga Lookout Lodge saw a fishing boat suddenly overturn in heavy swells.
They called 911 and rescue boats from the Kenai and Nikiski Fire Departments, along with private skiffs, rushed to the scene.
Eric Wilcox, the fire marshal with the Kenai Fire Department, says two crewmen from the fishing vessel Six were rescued. They were taken to Central Peninsula Hospital, but Wilcox says the two men were able to walk up the beach after rescue boats brought them to shore.
In an email to Channel 2, one of the rescued crewmen, Allan Baldwin, says wave action capsized the vessel.
"(W)e took water over the bow and the following sea pushed the boat in and over to lay on its side," Baldwin wrote. "The skipper climbed down into the filling house and was able to exit the door which I had already exited, it was all I could do to hold open the door while he pulled himself against the pressure of the waves!"
As the boat abruptly overturned, Baldwin says his sense of both time and space aboard were affected.
"We never got too excited, just knew we needed to get to the driest spot," Baldwin wrote. "As the boat turned over it seemed like slow motion yet took seconds, I was disorientated for a second because I was standing on the wall instead of the floor and water filling a boat is a bad feeling!"
Baldwin credits local emergency services for their quick response to the sinking, despite a moment when it wasn't clear whether they had been contacted.
"I placed a call to 911 but lost my footing and dunked my phone," Baldwin wrote. "I knew a call made it when through the fog I saw red lights on the bluff, then again on the beach? We have great fire rescue people in Kenai and thankfully (those) people watch the river mouth all the time."
Officials are say they are aware of the sinking, and they are asking people to not call 911 to report the boat, which is partially submerged south of the mouth of the river near Chinulna Point.
Channel 2's Chris Klint contributed information to this story.
Contact Mike Ross