CLEVELAND – U.S. Coast Guard crews have ended their search of Lake Ontario for a missing crewmember of a Canadian-flagged freighter at about 2:30 p.m., Oct. 21, 2010.
Coast Guard crews searched for about 25 continuous hours, over an area of about 3,150 square miles, before suspending the search.
“The Coast Guard suspends a search and rescue case when a missing person cannot be located and only after the search area has been saturated with a maximum number of assets, resources and crew efforts,” said Capt. Stephen Torpey, Ninth Coast Guard District Incident Management Branch chief. “We make this decision with great care and deliberation.”
The crew of the Canadian Provider contacted the Coast Guard at about 1:30 p.m., Wednesday and reported the Nova Scotian crewmember, Gary Carlton, 59, hadn’t been seen aboard the vessel since about 4 a.m.
Coast Guard rescue crews from Station Oswego, N.Y., Station Rochester, N.Y., Station Alexandria Bay, N.Y., Air Station Detroit, Air Station Cape Cod, Mass., and Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., aided in the search.
Canadian coast guard air and sea assets also aided substantially in the search.
The U.S. Coast Guard works closely with our Canadian counterparts during operations along the shared border within the Great Lakes.
The Coast Guard can resume a search if credible information is received that persons reported missing have survived.
