Coast Guard rescues five after fishing boat runs aground in False Pass

The Coast Guard rescued all five people aboard the 58-foot fishing boat Oracle on Thursday after it ran aground at the south end of False Pass.

The report came in at 4:48 am, according to a Coast Guard news release. The release didn't say whether anyone was hurt, what caused the grounding or what will happen to the boat.

False Pass, also called Isanotski Strait, leads north into Bechevin Bay, a route boats from Alaska Peninsula and Bristol Bay communities use often. In the bay, boats follow 29 buoys through a narrow, winding channel, where "one wrong turn" can leave a boat in less than 14 feet of water, NOAA said in June.

Ice had destroyed nearly all those buoys. In May, 28 of the 29 were missing, NOAA said, and it worked with the Coast Guard to restore them. As of the Coast Guard's Oct. 28 notice to mariners, one buoy in the bay was still missing and a light wasn't showing its proper pattern.

The Oracle ran aground at the south end of the strait, away from the bay.