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Press Release | Feb. 24, 2025

UPDATE: Coast Guard continues search for one person after five recovered from sinking boat near the entrance to the Ambrose Channel

NEW YORK — The Coast Guard continues its search for a missing person after a vessel capsized Sunday afternoon near Breezy Point.  

The missing person has been identified as 52-year-old Vernon Glasford and was last seen wearing a gray hoody, blue jeans, and black boots.

The Coast Guard had three aircrews, 2 small boat crews and two ships search overnight and into Monday morning.  

The vessel reportedly departed from Howard Beach Sunday morning and was fishing recreationally. The vessel was reported as a Grady White, approximately 30 feet long.  

The current water temperature in the search area is approximately 38 degrees.  

Four of the five rescued Sunday were unresponsive. A Coast Guard Station Sandy Hook boat crew recovered three people, an Air Station Atlantic City air crew recovered one, and an NYPD aviation crew recovered one additional person. All five people were transported to local hospitals.  

The incident began on Sunday at 12:04 p.m. when Coast Guard Sector New York received a notification from New York City 911 operators about a vessel taking on water near Breezy Point, a neighborhood at the tip of Queens’ Rockaway peninsula. Coast Guard watchstanders issued an urgent marine information broadcast and deployed three rescue boats from Coast Guard Station New York and Station Sandy Hook and an MH-65 helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City.  

Coast Guard units that have responded include: 

  • Coast Guard Station New York 

  • Coast Guard Station Sandy Hook 

  • Coast Guard Cutter William Chadwick

  • Coast Guard Cutter Bonito 

  • Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City  

  • Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod

NYPD Harbor and Aviation units, FDNY Marine units, the New Jersey State Police, and Sandy Hook Pilots also assisted in the response.  

-USCG-