Dinh Nguyen knew he was going to drown.

The 57-year-old fisherman was in a boat that was sinking off the coast 17 miles northwest of Ventura late Friday afternoon. He said the boat's captain and his friend, Tra Nguyen, ended up tethered to the vessel and was dragged down with it.

After scouring the ocean for 16 hours, Coast Guard officials called off the search for Tra Nguyen at 7:45 a.m. Saturday. A spokeswoman would neither comment on whether the missing boater was presumed dead nor confirm the man's name.

The names and story come from Dinh Nguyen and friends who confirmed his presence on the commercial fishing boat. He spoke early Saturday afternoon at Ventura Harbor, where his rescuers took him.

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