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3 dead in Catalina Island boating incident

Posted at 11:56 AM, Jun 25, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-26 18:53:23-04

The Coroner's Office Sunday identified the three men killed when their 22-foot boat capsized in rough seas off Catalina Island, where two other people suffered critical injured.

The fatalities were identified as Young Joon Park, 64, and Kyung Hwam Kim, 47, both of Los Angeles, and Jason Jung Noh, 62, of Buena Park, said Capt. John Kades of the coroner's office.

Firefighters and paramedics were dispatched to the west side of the island at 9:32 a.m. Saturday, according to a county fire department dispatcher.

A witness reported that the skiff with seven people on board had overturned near Salta Verde Point on the backside of the island, Sondra-Kay Kneen of the U.S. Coast Guard said. Waves in the area were reported to be between four and six feet.

A good Samaritan rescued two people from the water and reported seeing another person on the rocks. A Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued the person from the rocks, Kneen said.

Two county fire rescue boats, Baywatch Isthmus and Baywatch Avalon, recovered three bodies from the water, and a Catalina Island Conservancy officer located the seventh person on the beach, she said.

The three men were pronounced dead at the scene, detectives said.

The Coast Guard took one person to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center and Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedics took the other three people to hospitals, Kneen said.

Two of the survivors were listed in critical condition, according to homicide detectives.