AKUTAN

A magnitude-5.4 earthquake shook Unalaska and Akutan over the weekend.

The quake struck Saturday at 5:25 a.m. about 20 miles south of Akutan, according to the Alaska Earthquake Center and U.S. Geological Survey.

It hit about 44 miles deep. 

While some slept through the event, several people in both Aleutian communities reported feeling a slight shaking that lasted about 30 seconds. There have been no reports of damage.

Friday marks the end of Alaska's student count period, which determines how much funding public schools receive.

To get full funding, schools need at least 10 students. But at the Yakov E. Netsvetov school in Atka, there are only six. Unless four more students enroll, this will be the last year there's a school in Atka.

This winter, Unalaska's seafood plants could host a handful of prison inmates — if the community joins a work release program run by the state Department of Corrections.

DOC Commissioner Dean Williams proposed the idea to the City Council this week, citing interest from at least one local processor that he declined to name.

Williams said he'd like to start with four or five inmates, who would go through a thorough vetting and selection process. They'd work at plants and live at bunkhouses under strict rules and electronic surveillance.

A federal response team prevented a Danish container ship from running aground Saturday.

The U.S. Coast Guard reports the 872-foot Laura Maersk lost power 7 miles north of Akutan and began drifting toward the coast.

The response team including the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Midget, a Coast Guard chopper, and three local tugboats, stopped the container ship 5.5 miles from shore. The tug Gretchen Dunlap towed the ship back to Unalaska.

Three people were rescued Monday morning after their fishing vessel ran aground near Akutan Harbor.

After the U.S. Coast Guard heard reports the F/V Predator was taking on water, Petty Officer John-Paul Rios said they launched a rescue by air.

“A Coast Guard helicopter got on-scene, hoisted three individuals off the vessel, and transported them back to Akutan," said Rios. "We were told they had no kind of medical conditions.”

The fate of the vessel is less certain. Rios said the Predator ran aground hard, and it’s unclear whether it can be repaired.