SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Two overdue boaters who went missing Wednesday in waters between Jost Van Dyke and Tortola, British Virgin Islands, were found alive today.
Kevin McMillan and Roxanne Williams reportedly departed Jost Van Dyke at 9 p.m. Tuesday and transported Franklin Shinnery to Cane Garden Bay. After having dropped off Shinnery, they were expected to return Wednesday morning to Jost Van Dyke, however, the boaters never arrived.
McMillan, a Jost Van Dyke resident, was found at approximately 10 a.m. today, when he was located in waters just off Sandy Cay by the crew of sailing vessel Chamira. The sailing vessel’s crewmembers went out on the Chamira’s small boat and rescued the helpless boater from the water. McMillan was taken to a medical clinic in Jost Van Dyke to receive a medical evaluation.
The Coast Guard also received a report at approximately 10 a.m. today from the British Virgin Islands Drug Squad, that Roxanne Williams, a Jost Van Dyke resident, had also been found alive. The Drug Squad reported that Williams had been dropped off at Soper’s Hole, Tortola, yesterday by an unknown person, and subsequently taken to Peebles Hospital in Road Town, Tortola, to receive needed medical care.
Coast Guard rescue crews flew a total of eight sorties in support of the search efforts with a Hercules C-130 aircraft from Clearwater Fla., a HU-25 Falcon Jet from Air Station Miami, Fla. and HH-65 Dolphin helicopters from Air Station Borinquen, Puerto Rico. Since the search began Wednesday, rescue crews covered a search area of approximately 1,350 square nautical miles to find the missing boaters. McMillan and Williams were traveling aboard a 17-foot-blue pleasure craft powered by an outboard 115-horsepower engine at the time they went missing.
