Coast Guard, partner agencies search for, recover body of missing canoeist in Vermont

A Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod, Mass, MH-60 helicopter. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Rob Simpson.

USCG File Photo

BOSTON — The Coast Guard and their partner agencies searched for and recovered the body of a missing canoeist Saturday after his canoe tipped in Malletts Bay, Vermont.

Clinton County Dispatch notified Coast Guard Station Burlington at about 9:20 a.m., of three men who tipped their canoe and fell into the water. Two of the men swam to shore, but the third was missing.

A 29-foot response boat crew from Station Burlington and an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod launched to search the area where the missing canoeist was last seen. Members of Colchester police and fire departments, Malletts Bay fire department, and Vermont state police joined the search.

After about five and a half hours of searching, divers from the Vermont state police found and recovered the body of the missing man at about 3:12 p.m.

“Our condolences go out to the family members of the missing canoeist,” said Chief Petty Officer Aaron Clendaniel, command duty officer of Coast Guard Sector Northern New England. “And we would like to remind mariners that the water is still cold and hypothermia can set in quickly.”

The canoeists were not wearing life jackets.

The air temperature was 57 degrees and the water, 46 degrees. The survivability time while wearing a life jacket is about nine hours.


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