A 39-year-old man died last Thursday of natural causes on a Coast Guard medevac bound for Unalaska. Riche J. Tonato, from the Philippines, was the head cook on the cargo ship Matsura. That vessel had recently left Canada, and was on its way to Nagasaki, Japan.
Tonato had severe asthma and hypertension. He started complaining of shortness of breath on the morning of August 16th. Tonato barely had a pulse when the Coast Guard picked him up, and they tried to resuscitate him for almost an hour during his medevac. Unalaska EMTs also tried to perform CPR when the plane landed, but they were unsuccessful.
The Alaska State Troopers investigated Tonato’s case, and determined that he died of natural causes.
