Coast Guard Searches For Missing Man In Chesapeake Bay

PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The Coast Guard is searching Monday for a 32-year-old man who was reported to have fallen overboard from the Fleeton, a 170-foot fishing vessel, during the vessel's southbound transit in the Chesapeake Bay.

The master of the Fleeton contacted Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads Command Center watchstanders at approximately 9 a.m. reporting a crewmember was last seen as the vessel was transiting the Chesapeake Bay, and the crewmember hadn't been seen or heard from in a few hours.

Sector Hampton Roads watchstanders issued an urgent marine information broadcast and dispatched crews aboard an HC-130 Hercules aircraft and an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., a 45-foot Response Boat - Medium from Coast Guard Station Little Creek, a 25-foot Response Boat - Small from Coast Guard Station Milford Haven, a 25-foot Response Boat - Small from Coast Guard Station Cape Charles and the Coast Guard Cutter Albacore, an 87-foot patrol boat homeported in Virginia Beach, Va., to assist in the search.

Crews aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Albacore and a Jayhawk are scheduled to continue searching until sunset and another search is scheduled to begin around sunrise Tuesday.

The search area is focused approximately five miles east of the mouth of the Rappahannock River.