NEW YORK – The Coast Guard is searching for a missing Hispanic male wearing jeans and a winter coat in the waters near Port Washington, N.Y., today.
The Coast Guard received a report from the constable in nearby North Hempstead, N.Y., that a 14-foot row boat with four people aboard had capsized at 3 a.m. in Manhasset Bay. After the boat capsized, the four people on board started swimming toward a local marina. The individuals had reportedly been drinking and, after reaching the marina, passed out on the dock where they were later found by the North Hempstead constable. When the group was confronted by the constable, they realized they were missing a fourth individual, and had not noticed his absence after they had arrived at the marina earlier. The missing man was not wearing a lifejacket.
Coast Guard Sector New York issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast and launched a rescue boat crew from Coast Guard Station King’s Point who, along with rescue crews from the North Hempstead Police Department, the New York Fire Department and the Oyster Bay, N.Y., Fire Department, arrived on scene and began searching all vessels at the North Hempstead Town Moorings, Port Washington shoreline marinas, the Great Neck shoreline and marinas, as well as all abandoned buildings in the Port Washington area.
A Coast Guard rescue boat crew and other agency crews are continuing to search the area.
“We can’t stress enough the importance of wearing a life jacket on the water,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Vania Czumak, an operations specialist with the Coast Guard Sector New York Command Center.
Consumption of alcohol can be especially hazardous on the water. The marine environment can impair a boater’s coordination, judgment and reaction time even further, increasing the likelihood of accidents afloat.
The incident is under investigation.
