UPDATED: Search suspended – Coast Guard, partners search for missing fisherman off Big Island – 2

HONOLULU — Coast Guard crews and partners are searching for a mariner who fell overboard approximately 150-miles southeast of Big Island, Thursday.

Multiple rescue crews are searching for a 32 year-old male who is reported to have fallen overboard late Wednesday.

Multiple air and surface Coast Guard crews are searching with assistance from the Navy, Marines, and an automated mutual-assistance vessel rescue system (AMVER) in the area. 

At 4:50 p.m., Wednesday, Sector Honolulu watchstanders received a phone call from the master of the commercial fishing vessel Sea Goddess reporting the situation. Sector Honolulu watchstanders immediately issued an urgent marine information broadcast and launched rescue crews including partner agency assets. 

Currently searching are-

-An Air Station Barbers Point C-130 Hercules aircrew
-The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Joseph Gerczak (WPC 1126)
-Navy Boeing P-8 Poseidon aircrew
-Two Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 268 (MV-22B) aircrews
-A Marine KC-130 aircrew
-The vessel Kamokuiki
-The crew of the Sea Goddess

Anyone with information is requested to contact the Coast Guard on Channel VHF 16 or by phone at 808-842-2600. 

The weather on scene is winds of 5 mph and seas up to 6 feet.

-USCG-

U.S. Coast Guard 14th District Hawaii and the Pacific
Contact: 14th District Public Affairs
Office: (808) 535-3230

Coast Guard suspends search of missing mariner off Big Island

HONOLULU — The Coast Guard has suspended the active search for the missing mariner who fell overboard approximately 150-miles southeast of Big Island, Friday evening.

The mariner, a Republic of Kiribati native, remains missing.

“Our crews and partners worked diligently, but unfortunately there has been no sign of the missing mariner and the Coast Guard has suspended the active search tonight at sunset pending any further developments,” said Ensign Jonathon Smith, a Sector Honolulu watchstander. “Making the decision to suspend a search is never an easy one.”

Rescue crews conducted a total of 23 searches over the course of 45 hours, covering over 8,693 square miles.

Involved in the search were-

-An Air Station Barbers Point C-130 Hercules aircrew
-The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Joseph Gerczak (WPC 1126)
-Navy Boeing P-8 Poseidon aircrew
-Two Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 268 (MV-22B) aircrews
-A Marine KC-130 aircrew
-The vessel Kamokuiki
-The crew of the Sea Goddess

At 4:50 p.m., Wednesday, Sector Honolulu watchstanders received a phone call from the master of the commercial fishing vessel Sea Goddess reporting that one of his crewmembers was missing.

Sector Honolulu watchstanders immediately issued an urgent marine information broadcast and launched rescue crews including partner agency assets.

The weather on scene at the time of the search was winds of 5 mph and seas up to 6 feet.

-USCG-