PORTSMOUTH, Va. – The Coast Guard suspended its search for a missing 58-year-old male swimmer off Buckroe Beach, Virginia, at 1:40 p.m. Friday.
At approximately 12:39 p.m. Thursday, watchstanders from Coast Guard Sector Virginia received a report of a missing swimmer last seen entering the water without a life jacket and drifting away from his vessel off Buckroe Beach in Newport News. The reporting source, another passenger aboard the 29-foot pleasure craft, lost sight of the man at approximately 12:30 p.m.
Watchstanders issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast to Mariners and deployed a 45-foot Response Boat-Medium crew from Coast Guard Station Portsmouth and a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City to search the area. Rescue crews, comprised of federal, state, and local first responders, covered an area of more than 700 square miles.
Responding units include:
- Coast Guard Cutter Sailfish
- Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City
- Coast Guard Station Portsmouth
- Coast Guard Station Milford Haven
- Hampton Fire Department fireboat crew and Police Department responders
- Norfolk Fire Department fireboat crew
- Poquoson Fire Department
- Chambers Helo Support Command
- Virginia Marine Resources Commission
- Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
On scene weather was reported as 1-3-foot seas and 10mph winds.
-USCG-