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Press Release | Jan. 28, 2023

Coast Guard, partner agencies searching for missing boater near Port O’Connor, Texas

Coast Guard PADET Texas - Office: (281) 464-4810 / After Hours: (832) 293-1293

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Coast Guard, along with state and local responders, are searching for a missing boater who went overboard into the water near Port O’Connor, Texas, Saturday.

Missing is a 20-year-old white male last seen wearing a dark grey jacket and black sweatpants. The man was reportedly not wearing a life jacket.

Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi command center watchstanders received a notification at 10:56 p.m. Friday on VHF-FM channel 16 from the towing vessel Chip Stiebing stating a collision occurred between a barge they were towing and an aluminum skiff with two people aboard in the Intracoastal Waterway north of Shoal Water Bay. The collision ejected both people from the skiff into the water and a good Samaritan rescued one person from the water.

Watchstanders issued an urgent marine information broadcast and directed the launch of a Coast Guard Station Port O’Connor 29-foot Response Boat–Small crew and a Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew to search for the missing boater.

Involved in the search are:

  • Station Port O’Connor
  • Air Station Corpus Christi
  • Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
  • Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office
  • TowBoat U.S.
  • SeaTow
  • Volunteer Fire vessels
  • Good Samaritan vessels 

Anyone with information that may assist search efforts should contact Sector Corpus Christi at 361-939-0450.

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-USCG-