In brief, Published: January 2, 2006

SOUTHEAST

Coast Guard searching for two missing men

Searchers were combing the waters outside two Southeast Alaska towns Sunday night, trying to find two men missing after their boats were found without them, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The incidents were unrelated although similar, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Richard Reichenbach in Juneau.

The Coast Guard declined to release the men's names.

In the first incident, a Ketchikan resident in his early 20s left a party on Pennock Island in the Tongass Narrows early Sunday between midnight and 1 a.m. for the short boat ride to Ketchikan, Reichenbach said.

The man's boat was found about noon Sunday, upturned on the beach north of Ketchikan, he said.

In the second incident, an Angoon resident about 40 years old was missing after his unoccupied skiff crashed into the shore near the Angoon seaplane base Sunday afternoon, according to Reichenbach.

The man was headed a short distance from the Killisnoo ferry terminal north to Angoon, he said. The Coast Guard got the call about 6:15 p.m.

-- Anchorage Daily News