Deadliest Catch star Nick Mavar has died aged 59.
The former deckhand on the F/V Northwestern passed away Thursday afternoon following a medical emergency in Naknek, Alaska, the Bristol Bay Borough Police Department confirmed to TMZ.
Mavar’s family has been notified and police are conducting interviews – but would not reveal the nature of the medical emergency.
He appeared in 98 episodes of Deadliest Catch from 2005 to 2021.
Mavar left the show after suffering a ruptured appendix – which was chronicled on one of his final episodes.
He sued Captain Sig Hansen and made claims there was a delay in getting outside medical treatment for him due to the pandemic.
Deadliest Catch star Nick Mavar has died aged 59 following a medical emergency
His complaint claimed that a ‘delay in competent and adequate examination, testing, and diagnosis’ led to a ruptured appendix as well as the discovery of a cancerous tumor.
‘The lack of a plan for outside medical care led to the ‘failure to assure plaintiff was promptly taken to the Dutch Harbor medical clinic for an examination and assessment of plaintiff’s medical condition,’ the original complaint claims. It also alleges that the delayed care caused the rupture, leading to infections, surgeries and cancer treatment that ‘would not have occurred had the appendix been removed prior to rupture.’
Hansen said the blame did not lie solely on him and cited the production company and the medical subcontractor.
In May 2023 Northwestern’s owners were seeking damages, legal and medical payments related to Mavar’s injuries.
In recent years Mavar had been captaining his own salmon boat in Alaska’s Bristol Bay
The former deckhand on the F/V Northwestern passed away Thursday afternoon following a medical emergency in Naknek, Alaska , the Bristol Bay Borough Police Department confirmed to TMZ – he is seen with his father in his final Instagram post in December