Family Fishing Trip Turns Into a Nightmare When 3 Die and 2 Go Missing
An Alaska fishing adventure became a nightmare for a family of eight when disaster struck one of the two boats they chartered over the Memorial Day weekend, leaving three people dead and two more missing despite a desperate search over hundreds of square miles of ocean.
The tragedy tore the Tyau family Vernon Tyau apart: Two sisters and one of their husbands are dead, while the other’s partner and the boat captain remain missing off southeast Alaska four days after the boat was found partially submerged off an island.
The bodies of sisters Brandi Tyau, 56, and Danielle Agcaoili, 53, were found inside the boat’s cabin. The body of Danielle’s husband, Maury Agcaoili, 57, was discovered near the boat.
Brandi Tyau’s longtime partner — Robert Solis, 61 — and captain Morgan Robidou, 32, were still considered missing Thursday.
Authorities suspended a 20-plus-hour search covering 825 square miles on Monday and said they have no plans to resume it.
Coast Guard investigators were working to determine the cause of the incident. The area was experiencing 6- to 11-foot waves, a Coast Guard spokesperson said.
Brandi and Danielle’s parents, older brother and sister-in-law were on the other charter boat as part of a three-day trip to a destination fishery known for king salmon and groundfish.
Brandi, Danielle and their sister-in-law didn’t like fishing but joined the vacation to spend more time with a family that was usually split between Hawaii and Los Angeles.
“It was just supposed to be a simple family get-together for eight of us, since we haven’t been together in the same spot for so long,” Michael Tyau, the older brother, told The Associated Press on Thursday. “For it to turn out like this is really devastating.”
The Tyau siblings — Michael, Brandi and Danielle — grew up fishing in Hawaii with their parents. Michael said his sisters hated being cold and wet but would endure it for their water-loving parents and later their partners.
Solis, a Navy diver-turned-private investigator who was stationed in Hawaii when he and Brandi Tyau met decades ago, was someone for whom “ the ocean really was his life,” one of Solis’ brothers said.
So when the Tyau siblings’ mother suggested a family trip last year, a fishing vacation in the Sitka Sound won out.
“My sisters, I think, reluctantly agreed,” Michael Tyau said.
He and his wife flew from Los Angeles to Alaska on Thursday with Brandi Tyau and Solis. They met up with their parents, sister Danielle Agcaoili and her husband, Maury, all Hawaii residents.
The whole family stayed in a lodge owned by charter boat company Kingfisher Charters in Sitka. The small port city with a backdrop of a stunning volcanic mountain is located on the shore of Baranof Island, which is part of a cluster of islands dripping off Alaska’s southeast coastline.
The area is a “premier fishing destination” for tourists because the many bays and passageways created by the islands provide protection from the wind and waves on days when the open sea is too rough, Kingfisher Charters says on its website.
Forrest Braden, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Guides Organization, said anglers often stay for multiple days on trips to the region.
“It’s more of a fishing-themed trip for a lot of people rather than being one of a variety of activities that they do,” he said.
The boats the Tyau clan chartered, named the Pockets and the Awakin, set out last Friday. Michael Tyau said his sisters and wife spent the day’s voyage seasick in the two boats’ cabins and skipped Saturday’s trip to recover on land.
When Sunday dawned, their last vacation day before Monday flights home, the women rejoined the boats.
Danielle Agcaoili said “she didn’t want to let anybody down,” Michael Tyau recalled through tears.
The boat captains opted for different fishing spots. Aboard the Pockets, Michael Tyau said he “in no way felt in jeopardy, like this wasn’t safe for us to fish in.”
In addition to their effort to determine the cause of the accident, Coast Guard investigators were working to determine an exact timeline.
Kingfisher Charters declined to respond to questions outside a statement released Wednesday saying the company is “devastated by the loss of the guests and captain.”
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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