Jenner boat accident - one dead, four rescued

(11-23) 20:49 PST JENNER -- A 71-year-old fisherman was killed Tuesday morning in an unusual boat accident off the Sonoma County coast, authorities said.

Glenn Shoji Iwamoto was crab fishing near the mouth of the Russian River with four other men when a line from one of their crab pots got caught in the boat's propeller. As they struggled with the snarl, a succession of strong waves swamped and then overturned their boat.

The death toll might have been higher if another boat of crabbers, also from the Sacramento area, had not been nearby. The people in that boat were able to pull the five victims from the water and transfer them to a Coast Guard lifeboat that arrived at 9:47 a.m.

None of the men in the capsized boat were wearing life preservers when the waves hit, according to the Coast Guard and the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office.

Iwamoto did not respond to CPR and was pronounced dead on shore. The other four men were treated for hypothermia.

E-mail John King at jking@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C - 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle