OCEAN PARK – Two people died Sunday when an 80-foot purse seine fishing vessel capsized 12 miles west of Ocean Park, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

There were at least five people aboard the Papa George fishing boat based out of Seattle Sunday when a presumed mechanical failure caused the boat to list and capsize to the port side, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Chris Beuhl of Air Station Astoria.

Three men aboard survived and pulled the bodies of a man and a woman ashore in a small wharf boat. The two were pronounced dead at the scene.

Astoria’s West Bay Seafoods Plant Manager Dana Ferguson said the Papa George had fished for his plant earlier this summer, but was fishing for Pacific Coast Seafoods of Warrenton at the time.

Survivors told the Coast Guard they had 40 to 60 tons of sardines on board at the time of the accident. The boat was pumping water into holding tanks to keep the fish fresh and pumping water off, but the pumping system stopped working and the boat took on too much water, said Beuhl.

Ferguson said he spoke with the vessel’s owner Monday and learned it was the boat’s captain, Dave Starbuck, 61, and crew member, Ethel Zelaya, 37, both of Ventura, Calif., who died in the incident.

According to the Web site papageorgetuna.com, the vessel was built in Louisiana as a shrimper and was owned by Steve and Holly Lovejoy of Papa George Gourmet Albacore & Seafoods.

“All the deck hands got off,” said Ferguson.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Brian Fischer told a Seattle newspaper that survivors saw Zelaya apparently making a valiant but futile attempt to rescue a dog from the ship’s cabin.

“She was seen and then she went into the water,” Fischer said.

Upon reaching shore, around 6:40 p.m., the survivors called for help and Pacific County emergency services, a motor lifeboat from Station Cape Disappointment and a rescue swimmer from Air Station Astoria were dispatched to the Ocean Park shore.

The three survivors spent Sunday night in an Ocean Park motel and were being interviewed by Coast Guard investigators.

The Pacific County coroner’s office has taken the case and Coast Guard Sector Portland is investigating the cause of the capsizing.