March 7, 2013
PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The Coast Guard suspended the search Thursday for two men
missing approximately 15 miles east of Assateague Island, Md.
Rescued was Patrick Small of New Bern, N.C.
Missing are Steven and Walter Tate of New Bern, N.C.
Coast Guard 5th District watchstanders initially received an emergency
position-indicating radio beacon alert from the 67-foot fishing vessel Seafarer
at 10:39 a.m. Wednesday.
Watchstanders contacted the vessel's owner, who believed the Seafarer became
disabled and the vessel's sister ship, the Captain Alex, reportedly started
towing the Seafarer. It was reported that the Captain Alex lost the tow and
sight of the Seafarer when weather conditions worsened.
Watchstanders dispatched crews aboard a 47-foot Motor Life Boat from Coast
Guard Station Chincoteague and an MH-60 Jayhawk from Coast Guard Air Station
Elizabeth City, N.C. to the Seafarer’s reported position. Once on scene, the
aircrew rescued Small from a life raft and took him to Peninsula Regional
Medical Center in Salisbury, Md. Afterwards, the Jayhawk and the MLB crews
resumed their search for the Tates until the case was temporarily suspended due
to nightfall and adverse weather conditions.
Thursday morning a second Jayhawk crew from the air station resumed the
search until 1 p.m., when the case was suspended pending further
developments.
A crew aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., rescued a man from a life raft off the Eastern Shore following the capsizing of the 67-foot fishing vessel Seafarer, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. The aircrew hoisted the man into the helicopter and took him to Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, Md. U.S. Coast Guard video by Air Station Elizabeth City.
“We want to extend our most sincere condolences to the families of the missing
crewmembers,” said Thomas Botzenhart, a search and rescue controller at the 5th
Coast Guard District command center. “We have expended multiple Coast Guard
assets to search for their loved ones. We have searched over 560 square
nautical miles of the Atlantic Ocean off the eastern shore of Virginia in an
effort to locate and rescue their family members. It is with a great deal of
sorrow that we have been unable to locate them at this point of time.”
Submitted: US Coast Guard
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