PORTSMOUTH, Va. – Coast Guard crews continue to search Saturday for two people overdue from a boating trip on the Elizabeth River in an 18-foot boat from the Jordan boat ramp in Chesapeake.
Missing are Kenneth Johnnie Guithues and Billie Jo Harris of Chesapeake.
A family member reported that the two may have departed in the white 1965 Sea King tri-hull boat Friday at about 10 p.m. Coast Guard Station Portsmouth crewmembers located their vehicle and trailer parked at the boat ramp.
Sector Hampton Roads watchstanders issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast to alert other boaters in the area. They have also been coordinating the search with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, Chesapeake Police, an Air Station Elizabeth City MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter crew and Station Portsmouth, Little Creek and Cape Charles crews.
Please call Sector Hampton Roads watchstanders at (757) 668-5555, or on VHF marine band radio channel 16 if you have seen them, heard from them, or know where they may be.
“We always recommend that when people go out they file a float plan with a friend or family,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Brooke Milstead, a Sector Hampton Roads watchstander. “The float plan should include where they will launch the vessel from and where the next port of call is, including dates and times of any stops they intend to take. It is also very important to have the number of people, a description of the vessel and what safety equipment they have onboard.”
