Coast Guard locates dead fisherman

A Coast Guard crew from Air Station Elizabeth City responded to a report of an overdue fishing vessel about 12 miles east of New Topsail Inlet, N.C., Tuesday night.

The vessel operator’s wife notified Coast Guard Sector North Carolina watchstanders at around 8 p.m. stating that her husband had departed Surf City at 8 a.m. aboard their lobster-style cabin cruiser Marina K Tuesday to fish for grouper, and had not returned.

A 25-foot rescue boat crew from Station Wrightsville Beach searched between New Topsail Inlet and the operator’s preferred fishing area about 12 miles east of the inlet, but did not find the vessel.

At 8:56 p.m., watchstanders attempted contact the victim via cell phone with no response, but were able to obtain an approximate position, indicating his vessel was 12 miles southwest of the phone tower at Sneads Ferry.

An HC-130J Hercules air plane crew from Air Station Elizabeth City arrived on scene, found a vessel matching the Marina K’s description, and guided the rescue boat crew to the scene. The boat crew boarded the vessel and found it unoccupied.

The crew downloaded GPS data indicating two stored positions, yielding a historical position of the vessel. The Coast Guard Cutter Cochito, an 87-foot patrol boat were also diverted to support search efforts.

The rescue boat crew conducted a search of the nine miles between the last known two positions. The crew later discovered the operator deceased in the water. The body was taken back to station Wrightsville Beach and transferred to the coroner.

This is the second reported death of a fisherman fishing alone without a life jacket in five months in North Carolina.