"Deadliest Catch" Captain Suffers a Stroke

Sad UPDATE 2/9: Phil Harris has died.

Captain Phil Harris of The Cornelia Marie, one of the ships featured on the Discovery Channel's hit show "Deadliest Catch", has been hospitalized in Alaska after suffering a stroke:

A member of the crew found Harris on the cabin floor of the Seattle-based crab boat.

The Cornelia Marie, one of the ships featured on "The Deadliest Catch," was docked in St. Paul Alaska. Harris has been captain of the Cornelia Marie for 18 years.

The family posted a statement on the show's website saying he was flown to an Anchorage hospital, where he is receiving treatment for the stroke.

"Captain Phil is resting comfortably and is in the care of excellent doctors and nurses," his family posted on "The Deadliest Catch" site.

Captain Phil had another health scare a couple of years ago when he nearly died from a pulmonary embolism.

Harris is one of the favorite characters on the show, and this is the time of the year when they're usually filming the Opelio Crab season on the Bering Sea. According to the report on the Deadliest Catch web page the stroke occurred while the boat was offloading their catch. Probably a good thing it happened there and not at sea where a rescue would have taken much more time.