Families mourn 2 killed on fishing trip

A woman dressed in black from top to bottom appeared between a crack in the front door of a Bustleton townhouse. When she heard her husband's name spoken, she placed her hand over her mouth, shuffled backward and sat down on a foyer step, repeating it over and over.

"Oh, Grigory. Grigory," Valentina Klokishner said Saturday, tears running beneath dark sunglasses. "Such a sweet, beautiful man. Everyone loved him, but I loved him the most."

Grigory Klokishner, 74, and Alex Osadchy, 66, also of Philadelphia, were among seven men tossed into frigid waters Friday when a large swell capsized their pontoon boat. They had been on a fishing trip near the Manasquan Inlet separating Monmouth and Ocean Counties.

Osadchy was pronounced dead after his body was pulled ashore. Klokishner was flown to Jersey Shore Hospital in Neptune, where he was pronounced dead.

As of Saturday night, authorities had not released the identities or hometowns of the five other men on the boat, four of whom were treated for injuries.

Not all of them wore life jackets. Authorities said the turbulent water was about 53 degrees.

Inside Klokishner's meticulous rowhouse on Clark Street near Bowler, Valentina Klokishner descended into her basement and uncovered a photograph of her husband. She spoke about a love that began in the former Soviet Union in what is now Moldova, a marriage of 53 years that produced two children and also grandchildren.

Grigory Klokishner, she said, was retired from a series of jobs at which he excelled: welding, building, mechanics.

"He had the golden hands," she said. "He was a golden man."

At a home in Trevose, Bucks County, a man who said he was Osadchy's son-in-law said the family was still in shock. Osadchy, the man said, also was a retired grandfather.

"He was a healthy man, a good guy. He would have been 67 next week," said the man, who declined to give his name.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the Manasquan Inlet station took a call about 1:30 p.m. reporting an overturned boat. The Coast Guard dispatched a 47-foot vessel, and a helicopter crew was sent up from Atlantic City. Good Samaritans also helped out, including a charter fishing boat and surfers.

Jim Freda, a commercial fisherman, told NJ.com that one wave had tilted the boat to its side and another knocked it over.

"That boat went over like it was in slow motion," Freda said. "Everybody was in the water."

Although temperatures were warm Friday, Freda said, a combination of a full moon, outgoing tide, and large swells made conditions treacherous.

@JasonNark