SEATTLE -- Survivors from a fishing boat that sank in the Bering Sea returned to Seattle overnight, telling how they clung to life rafts for hours before rescuers reached them.

The Coast Guard and a sister ship rescued 42 crew members of the Alaska Ranger after it sent a mayday call Easter morning while taking on water about 120 miles west of Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Four people aboard the boat died and a fifth person's body was never recovered.

"(It was) pretty scary. It's still fresh. (I) don't know what to think, say. Glad to be back here," said Paul Menoz, a crewmember who arrived at Boeing Field late Thursday night.

Crew members abandoned ship wearing survival jackets with flashing beacons, survivors said. Rescuers aboard the first helicopter at the scene said there were so many men overboard that they saw a mile-long stretch of flashing lights in the ocean.

"Wonderful. Words can't express (it), but (I'm) really excited to see my kids, my mom everybody in the family, my girlfriend. Thank God," said Alex Ernesto, a crew member from Toppenish, Wash.

Menoz said everyone on board was a hero -- especially those men who stayed on board making sure everyone got off the boat with their survival jackets.

Investigators are holding a public meeting Friday in Dutch Harbor as part of a probe into the boat's sinking.

The Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board are pursuing separate investigations of the sinking.