NEW YORK – Coast Guard crews, working with partner local agencies, are searching for a missing person in the waters off Westbrook, Conn., Monday.
Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound, Conn., watchstanders were notified by Connecticut State Police just after 11 a.m., Monday, that a 20 year-old-man, Benji Aven, from Texas, went missing while swimming near Westbrook with his four friends.
Rescue boat crews, from Coast Guard Station New London, Conn., and a rescue helicopter crew, of Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod, Mass., were immediately dispatched to the scene of the incident to search for the man. Local and state emergency responders from Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, Westbrook and Clinton fire departments are also participating in the search.
The five men were reported to have been swimming from Salt Island to the Westbrook between 1 a.m. and 1:30 a.m. when the incident occurred.
“Waters in the Long Island Sound area can present many unforeseen challenges and dangers especially at night, and we urge swimmers to make safety their number one priority,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Anthony Kozak, a Sector Long Island Sound watchstander.
