The body of the victim, a citizen of Chuuk, was later recovered by the other crewmembers of the 42-foot MV San Antonio.
Tarkong declined to disclose the identity of the victim pending notification of next of kin.
He said MV San Antonio arrived at the Smiling Cove Marina at 5:25 p.m. on Sunday.
An ambulance transported the body of the victim to the Commonwealth Health Center where he was pronounced dead by Dr. Martin Rohringer at 5:47 p.m.
Tarkong said the victim’s body was already stiff and rigor mortis had already set in.
DPS learned from the boat captain that the vessel left Saipan on Nov. 20 at about 5 p.m. heading to the waters of Pagan to fish.
The captain said they started trolling at Pagan on Friday evening and on early Saturday morning before heading toward the other northern islands of Alamagan and Guguan.
The captain said they stopped fishing at about 6:30 p.m. on Saturday because the water was too rough.
They then started their return to Saipan.
At about 7:10 p.m. on Saturday, they were passing the island of Guguan, which is 130 miles north of Saipan, when the victim got up and walked outside of the vessel’s cabin.
The captain said he told the victim to wait because the water was too rough.
The captain said the victim was last seen on the rear part of the boat when they heard him shout.
The crewmembers saw the victim floating in the water so the captain stopped the boat and put it into reverse to start the rescue operations.
The captain said they made several futile attempts to rescue the victim by throwing a rope with a buoy attached to it.
The victim eventually grabbed the buoy and the crew started pulling him in, but the waves were so big and the water was so rough that it took them about 20 minutes to finally pull our the victim from the water.
But the victim was no longer breathing and had no pulse. The captain said they performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the victim for several minutes but failed to revive him.
The captain told police he continued the trip back to Saipan while trying to contact EMO and Civil Defense but he said he did not get a response.
It was not until 7 a.m. on Sunday that EMO finally responded to their call when they were already near Anatahan.
The captain told the police that they encountered engine problems, prompting them to stop and repair the engine. It wasn’t until Sunday afternoon when they reached Saipan.
Tarkong said the case is still undergoing investigation.
