NEWPORT, Ore. -- Three fishermen died when a commercial fishing boat capsized off the coast of Newport  Tuesday night.

U.S. Coast Guard officials said the Mary B II fishing boat requested a Coast Guard escort across the Yaquina Bay bar in Newport due to 12 to 15-foot waves.  The Coast Guard crew left Yaquina Bay station and at 10:13 p.m., Oregon State Police was advised the fishing vessel had capsized with three people on board.

They began searching immediately and the U.S. Coast Guard said their helicopter found James Lacey, 48, of South Toms River, N.J., in the ocean. They transported him to a hospital in Newport, where he was pronounced deceased. At 12:28 a.m., Newport Fire Department found Joshua Porter, 50, of Toledo, Ore., on the beach near Nye Beach, where he was pronounced deceased.

The Mary B II ultimately ran aground on the beach near the north side of the Yaquina Bay North Jetty. Stephen Biernacki, 50, of Barnegat Township, N.J., was found with the boat and was pronounced dead at the scene. Biernacki was the boat's skipper.