Update as of 12:10 p.m.
The Coast Guard just sent a new press release announcing the search has been suspended because "rescue crews were unable to locate any signs of distress this morning. The search was suspended at approximately 10 a.m. after Coast Guard air and boat crews along with local agencies, searched throughout the night and into the morning and were unable to find any debris."
Update as of 11 a.m. Saturday:
The U.S. Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound station in New Haven reports that the HU-25 Falcon Jet, a medium-range surveillance fixed-wing aircraft used to perform search and rescue, has completed a sweep of Long Island Sound in the area where a boater was reported missing Friday night.
A Coast Guard dispatcher said there is still no sign of the missing boater and that Coast Guard officials are meeting to assess the situation and determine next steps.
The Falcon Jet was flown in from the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod (ASCC), at the Massachusetts Military Reservation on Cape Cod, to help with the search, after search efforts by local fire department rescue boats, along with a Coast Guard helicopter and a Coast Guard cutter from the New London base were not able to find the missing boater, who called in a distress signal Friday night.
Original story:
As of 5:20 a.m. Saturday, the U.S. Coast Guard was still searching for a boater who called in seeking help Friday night after his boat hit a rock and started taking on water.
A dispatcher from the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound stationed in New Haven said initial reports indicate that one adult male was on board, and that he reported striking a reef in Long Island Sound near Chick's Drive In in West Haven, which is off of Beach Street near Morse Park in West Haven.
The dispatcher said fire departments from Madison, Guilford, East Haven, Branford, and West Haven initially responded to the call, which came in around 10:49 p.m. Friday.
"We [the Coast Guard] are still currently searching," he said Saturday morning. "As far as we know it was one adult male. He didn't give us a whole lot of information. He said he struck a reef off of Chick's Drive In in West Haven, he was taking on water, he was shooting off flares and abandoning ship."
The dispatcher said a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter did a search Friday night and that the USCG's 87-foot patrol boat headquartered in New London, the Coast Guard Cutter Chinook continued searching Friday night and Saturday morning. A Coast Guard jet from U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod (ASCC), located at the Massachusetts Military Reservation on Cape Cod, was en route to Connecticut as of 5 a.m. Saturday help with the search.
Fire Chief Dave Thomas said Saturday that a crew from his company responded to a call for help late Friday. The request for help said that a boater was missing "east of Faulkner's Island," Thomas said. The fire company crew searched the area until the Coast Guard let them know their help was no longer needed, Thomas said.
