Bodies of 2 missing clammers found

The U.S. Coast Guard found the bodies of two missing clam diggers today near a Cook Inlet beach, raising the death toll to five after a commercial clamming skiff disappeared Tuesday.
The men had arrived less than a week earlier at a nearby camp where they are paid by the pound for digging razor clams along a six-mile stretch of shore southwest of Kalgin Island.
A plant manager for Pacific Alaska Shellfish reported the crew's 20-foot aluminum skiff overdue at 3:46 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Coast Guard. Co-workers had found the body of one of the clam diggers washed ashore, the Coast Guard said.
A helicopter soon spotted two more bodies in the water, about a mile from the beach at Polly Creek, on the western shore of the inlet.
Four Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters took turns blanketing 800 square miles of the shoreline and inlet overnight in search of the remaining men, with the last two bodies discovered at 11 a.m.
The three men discovered Tuesday were wearing life jackets, the Coast Guard said. The two men found today, less than a mile away, were not.
Coast Guard and company officials had not publicly identified the five dead men as of this afternoon.
"They were using the skiffs to move people around -- as well the clams that they would dig up. ... It was reported that they were going from the Polly Creek area back to the camp when they did not arrive," Petty Officer David Mosley said.
The razor clams are harvested with shovels and buckets between Polly Creek and Crescent River, according to the company website. The area is only accessible between May and August, the website says.
The clam diggers had been at the camp -- which can only be reached by plane or boat -- since May 12, according to a spokesman for the company. There were 23 people at the camp before the accident, a spokesman said.
When the tides allow, the clam diggers walk to the beaches or take a skiff or raft to harvest clams. When their buckets are full, they walk or boat back to camp, said Jason Moore, of Marketing Solutions Inc., an acting spokesman for the company.
The job is back-breaking work in a beautiful setting, according to an eight-page report titled "Razor Review," provided by the company, that describes the Polly Creek operation.
"Each man is paid for what he digs. Two to four guys share a raft. The raft brings out the empty buckets and is filled with a tide's worth of razors," the report says. "The scenery is hard to beat."
Pacific Alaska Shellfish, a subsidiary of Oregon-based Pacific Seafood Group, flies the clams in a small plane from the camp to a seasonal Nikiski processing plant where they are shucked, cleaned and vacuum-packed for sale, according to the company website.
Nikiski is about nine miles north of Kenai. The packaged clams are sold in Alaska, Washington and Oregon, Moore said.
Pacific Seafood chief executive Frank Dulcich was traveling Wednesday and unavailable for comment, Moore said.
In a prepared statement distributed to media and posted on the Pacific Seafood website, Dulcich said the company is heartbroken by the accident.
"This is the most tragic event in the history of our company. These hard-working and experienced individuals have contracted with our company for many years and are considered close friends and family," Dulcich said.
The crew members killed in the accident are supervised by a longtime contractor for Pacific Alaska Shellfish, the company said. That supervisor was not on board the skiff, Moore said.
"They're not direct employees of the company and so what happens is these guys sort of set their (hours) on when they're going to fish and when they're not going to fish," he said.
The company "will do everything within our power to comfort the family members, support ongoing search and rescue operations and learn the facts behind this terrible tragedy," Dulcich said in a prepared statement.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the deceased, the missing and their families," he said.
The missing aluminum skiff was owned by the seafood company, according to the Coast Guard.
The clam diggers held licenses and permit from the state Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission, Department of Environmental Conservation and the Department of Fish and Game, the company said.
The Coast Guard and Alaska State Troopers are investigating to determine the cause of the accident.

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Call Kyle Hopkins at 257-4334 or e-mail khopkins@adn.com.