The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for three men and their 31-foot-long fishing vessel after seven days of searching the ocean.
The agency said in a news release that its crews had searched more than 94,000 square miles, “an area larger in size than the states of Georgia and South Carolina combined.”
The three missing men have been identified as Dalton Conway, Caleb Wilkinson and Tyler Barlow. The three men were hired by the owner of the boat, a fishing vessel named the Carol Ann, and departed Brunswick, Georgia, on Oct. 14 to fish about 80 miles offshore. They did not return on their scheduled date of Oct. 18, and did not respond to attempts at communication.
The missing crew and boat were reported to the Coast Guard, spurring the massive search, which involved multiple helicopter and aircraft crews, several Coast Guard boats, and searchers from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
The Carol Anne, a 31-foot fishing vessel.
U.S. Coast Guard
“Despite the unwavering dedication of our crews, regrettably, we have not been able to uncover any traces of the vessel and have made the difficult decision to suspend the search for three beloved family members,” said Capt. Frank DelRosso, commander of Coast Guard Sector Charleston, in the news release. “We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our partner agencies and the countless volunteers who have lent their assistance in this arduous search. Undoubtedly, they, like us, share in the deep sympathy we hold for the families of the missing individuals.”
Anyone with new information about the case is asked to contact the Coast Guard.
According to CBS News affiliate WTOC, the family of Barlow has set up a GoFundMe and intends on using the money raised to help with the search.
The Coast Guard was searching for four divers some 50 miles south of Cape Fear, North Carolina, officials said Sunday, and the search was to continue into Monday morning.
The Coast Guard said it was notified that the four men were diving from a pleasure craft called Big Bill’s approximately 63 miles east of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina near noon on Sunday and hadn’t resurfaced.
Numerous aircraft and surface vessels were involved in the search, including an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and HC-130 Hercules aircraft.
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The U.S. Coast Guard has launched an investigation into the Titan submersible, which imploded with five people on board while attempting a dive to the wreckage of the Titanic. Roxana Saberi has the latest.
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Officials are investigating what went wrong aboard the Titan submersible as passengers’ families mourn the loss of their loved ones. An international coalition remains on site scouring the Atlantic Ocean for more debris from the vessel. CBS News correspondent Roxana Saberi reports from Boston.
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Five people who were on a sub that went missing during a voyage to the wreckage of the Titanic are believed to be dead, the company that planned the trip said in a statement to CBS News. The announcement was made after a deep-sea robot found a “debris field” while searching for the sub, the U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday.
Sub passenger Paul-Henri Nargeolet’s publicist, Mathieu Johann, confirmed to CBS News that fragments of the debris are from the sub. BBC News reported the debris includes “a landing frame and a rear cover from the submersible.”
The Coast Guard said Thursday morning that a robot from a Canadian vessel had reached the sea floor near the Titanic to look for the sub. Experts were evaluating the discovery by the ROV, or remotely operated vehicle. Officials were expected to discuss the findings during a news conference Thursday afternoon.
“A debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic,” officials said.
Another robot from a French vessel was also launched into the water Thursday amid a massive international search effort for the lost 21-foot sub Titan.
In addition to the underwater robots, search planes and ships have been deployed to the northern Atlantic Ocean in the hopes of finding the sub approximately 900 nautical miles from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The Coast Guard said Wednesday the search area was about twice the size of Connecticut.
This undated image provided by OceanGate Expeditions in June 2021 shows the company’s Titan submersible.
OceanGate Expeditions via AP
The sub launched into the Atlantic from a Canadian research vessel Sunday morning, and the ship lost contact with the Titan an hour and 45 minutes into the dive.
Officials previously said the sub had a limited amount of oxygen on board that could have lasted 96 hours, or roughly until Thursday morning.
On Wednesday, Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick said the amount of remaining oxygen was “a dialogue that’s happening” but not the only detail being considered in continuing the search.
The co-founder of the company that owns the sub, OceanGate, said Thursday was “a critical day” in the search. In a statement on Facebook, Guillermo Sohnlein said the group may have extended their life support supplies by “relaxing as much as possible.”
“I firmly believe that the time window available for their rescue is longer than what most people think,” Sohnlein said.
How to watch missing Titanic sub search briefing
What: U.S. Coast Guard officials are holding a briefing on the search for a sub that went missing while carrying five people to the wreckage of the Titanic
Crews searching for a sub that went missing while taking five people to the wreckage of the Titanic continued to hear noises Wednesday and were “actively searching” the area, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Overnight, the agency said a Canadian search plane detected noises underwater in the search area Tuesday and crews were focused on finding the origin of the sounds. Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick said a plane heard the noises Wednesday as well.
“With respect to the noises, specifically, we don’t know what they are, to be frank with you,” Frederick said at a briefing Wednesday. “…We’re searching in the area where the noises were detected.”
He said the team has two ROVs — remotely operated underwater vehicles — “actively searching,” plus several more are on the way and expected to join the search operation Thursday.
Search flights were scheduled to continue throughout the day and into the evening, Frederick said.
The Titan submersible, operated by OceanGate Expeditions to explore the wreckage of the sunken Titanic off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, dives in an undated photograph.
OceanGate Expeditions/Handout via Reuters
Carl Hartsfield of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution said the noises have been described as banging noises, but he also said it was difficult to discern the source of noises underwater.
“They have to put the whole picture together in context and they have to eliminate potential manmade sources other than the Titan,” Hartsfield said, referring to the sub’s name. “…The team is searching in the right area, so if you continue to do the analysis, look for different patterns and search in the right area, you’re doing, you know, the best you possibly can do with the best people on the case.”
The sub’s disappearance on Sunday has spurred a massive response from the U.S. and Canada as search crews rush to find the missing group in the north Atlantic Ocean. Five vessels were searching for the sub on the water’s surface, and that number was expected to double to 10 within 24-48 hours, Frederick said.
A Canadian research vessel lost contact with the 21-foot sub an hour and 45 minutes into its dive Sunday morning about 900 nautical miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It had been expected to resurface Sunday afternoon.
The size of the search area has expanded to approximately twice the size of Connecticut with a depth of up to 2-and-a-half miles, Frederick said.
Frederick expressed optimism about the search in its third full day.
“When you’re in the middle of a search-and-rescue case, you have to have hope,” he said. “That’s why we’re doing what we do.”
Underwater noises have been detected in the area of the search for a sub that went missing while carrying five people to the wreckage of the Titanic, the U.S. Coast Guard says.
In a tweet just after midnight EDT, the Coast Guard said the noises were picked up by Canadian P-3 aircraft and as a result, underwater operations were relocated to try to locate the origin of the noises.
Those operations haven’t turned up any results yet but the underwater operations are continuing, the Coast Guard said, adding that, “The data from the P-3 aircraft has been shared with our U.S. Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans.”
A Canadian research vessel lost contact with the vessel during a dive Sunday morning about 900 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and U.S. and Canadian authorities have been looking for it.
Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick told reporters during a news conference Tuesday afternoon that “about 40 hours of breathable air left” was an estimate based off the vessel’s original 96 hours of available oxygen.
Chief Petty Officer Robert Simpson, a Coast Guard spokesman, said there wouldn’t be a “hard-and-fast” transition from a search-and-rescue mission to a recovery operation when those hours are up, since there were several factors that could extend the search.
Frederick said authorities were working around the clock on the search in the Atlantic for the missing sub, calling the effort “an incredibly complex operation.”
“We will do everything in our power to effect a rescue,” Frederick said. “…There is a full-court press effort to get equipment on scene as quickly as we can.”
Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman, British explorer Hamish Harding and French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet were on the sub, along with Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, the U.S.-based company that planned the voyage.
If the sub is found in time, Frederick said, it was difficult to describe what a deep-sea rescue would entail.
“That’s a question that then the experts need to look at what is the best course of action for recovering the sub, but I think it’s going to depend on that particular situation,” he said.
The Coast Guard said the last recorded communication from the sub was about an hour and 45 minutes into Sunday’s dive.
Since the sub went missing, the U.S. and Canadian coast guards and the U.S. Navy and Air National Guard have combed a combined area of about 7,600 square miles, which is larger than the state of Connecticut, Frederick said.
This undated photo provided by OceanGate Expeditions in June 2021 shows the company’s Titan submersible.
OceanGate Expeditions via AP
A pipe-laying vessel arrived in the search area Tuesday and sent a remotely operated vehicle into the water to look for the sub at its last-known position, he said.
The U.S. Navy was working on deploying military assets to aid the search, Frederick said.
The U.S. Navy is sending a deep ocean salvage system to help in the search for a missing submersible with five people inside. The sub went to see the wreckage of the Titanic but then lost contact. G. Michael Harris, Titanic expedition leader and explorer, joins CBS News to discuss the dangers of these expeditions and the typical safety protocols put in place.
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A sub that went missing while carrying five people to the wreckage of the Titanic has less than 40 hours of breathable air left as of Tuesday evening, as the U.S. Coast Guard says search efforts continue. The sub had about 96 hours of oxygen at most onboard, officials said.
A Canadian research vessel lost contact with the submersible during a dive Sunday morning about 900 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and U.S. and Canadian authorities have been searching for it.
Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick told reporters during a news conference Tuesday afternoon that “about 40 hours of breathable air left” was an estimate based off of the vessel’s original 96 hours of available oxygen.
Chief Petty Officer Robert Simpson, a Coast Guard spokesman, said there wouldn’t be a “hard-and-fast” transition from a search-and-rescue mission to a recovery operation when those hours are up, saying there were several factors that could extend the search.
Frederick said authorities were working around the clock on the search in the Atlantic for the missing sub, calling the effort “an incredibly complex operation.”
“We will do everything in our power to effect a rescue,” Frederick said. “…There is a full-court press effort to get equipment on scene as quickly as we can.”
Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman, British explorer Hamish Harding and French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet were on the sub, along with Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, the U.S.-based company that planned the voyage.
If the sub is found in time, Frederick said it was difficult to describe what a deep-sea rescue would exactly entail.
“That’s a question that then the experts need to look at what is the best course of action for recovering the sub, but I think it’s going to depend on that particular situation,” he said.
The Coast Guard said the last recorded communication from the sub was about an hour and 45 minutes into Sunday’s dive.
Since the sub went missing, the Coast Guard, Canadian coast guard, U.S. Navy and Air National Guard have searched a combined area of about 7,600 square miles, an area larger than the state of Connecticut, Frederick said.
This undated photo provided by OceanGate Expeditions in June 2021 shows the company’s Titan submersible.
OceanGate Expeditions via AP
Search efforts continued Monday night and into Tuesday, he said. A pipe-laying vessel arrived in the search area Tuesday and sent a remotely operated vehicle into the water to look for the sub at its last-known position.
With search flights scheduled to fly over the area throughout the day, a Canadian coast guard vessel was expected to arrive Tuesday evening, Frederick said. Several other Canadian vessels and a U.S. Coast Guard cutter were en route to the area.
The U.S. Navy was working on deploying military assets to aid the search, Frederick said.
The U.S. Coast Guard is leading search and rescue efforts after a submersible vessel with 5 people aboard lost contact on a dive to the Titanic shipwreck site, about 900 miles east of Cape Cod. Rear Admiral John Mauger held a briefing Monday afternoon with the latest on the search.
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A massive search unfurled on Monday as authorities probed the North Atlantic for a tourist submarine that went missing over the weekend on an expedition to explore the famous Titanic shipwreck. Here’s what we know so far about the submersible craft and what may have happened to it.
What happened?
A five-person crew on a submarine named Titan and owned by OceanGate Expeditions submerged Sunday morning, the U.S. Coast Guard said Monday afternoon, and the crew of the Polar Prince research ship lost contact with the submersible nearly two hours later.
Hamish Harding, a British billionaire, is reportedly onboard the submersible along with four additional, as-of-yet unidentified, people.
The Coast Guard is expected to release more information during a Monday afternoon briefing slated for 4:30 p.m., ET.
The @USCG is searching for a 21-foot submersible from the Canadian research vessel Polar Prince.
The 5 person crew submerged Sunday morning, and the crew of the Polar Prince lost contact with them approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes into the vessel’s dive.
News of the vanished submersible and subsequent search broke earlier on Monday. At the time, Lt. Jordan Hart, of the Coast Guard in Boston told CBS News that personnel there were leading the rescue mission, and focusing on waters off Newfoundland in eastern Canada. Hart said Coast Guard personnel were “currently undergoing a search and rescue operation” in that area in an effort to locate and recover the submarine.
The Boston Regional Coordination Center was managing the rescue operation, a spokesperson for the Canadian Coast Guard confirmed. The location of the Titanic shipwreck falls within the Boston coordination center’s territory, according to a map of jurisdictions along the East Coast of North America.
The U.S. Coast Guard said it had a C-130 crew searching for the sub approximately 900 miles off Cape Cod, and that the Rescue Coordination Center Halifax is assisting with a P8 Poseidon aircraft, which has underwater detection capabilities.
The missing submarine
The unique submersible craft that disappeared is owned by OceanGate Expeditions, a company that deploys manned submarines for deep sea exploration and has in the past advertised this particular sub’s endeavor to carry tourists down to the wreckage of the RMS Titanic for $250,000 per seat. More than a century after the Titanic sunk in April 1912, the wreck lies about 400 miles southeast of the Newfoundland coast.
A map shows the point where the RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic, on April 15, 1912, about 380 miles southeast of the Newfoundland, Canada, coast and some 1,300 miles east of its destination in New York City.
Getty/iStockphoto
OceanGate said recently on its website and on social media that an expedition to the shipwreck was “underway,” describing the seven-night trip as a “chance to step outside of everyday life and discover something truly extraordinary.” In addition to one ongoing expedition, the company had planned two others for the summer of next year, according to the site.
In a statement, OceanGate confirmed the missing submarine is theirs and acknowledged that a rescue operation had been launched to find and recover it. The company said it was “exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely.” The company did not clarify how many people were inside the sub when it departed from Canada, and it was not clear whether anyone on board the vessel was a passenger who paid to tour the Titanic.
Who is Hamish Harding?
Hamish Harding, a 59-year-old British billionaire, businessperson and explorer, was reportedly onboard the submarine when it disappeared, according to BBC News, which noted that Harding announced publicly his decision to join the Titanic shipwreck expedition. In a post shared to his Facebook page on Saturday, Harding wrote: “I am proud to finally announce that I joined OceanGate Expeditions for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic.”
I am proud to finally announce that I joined OceanGate Expeditions for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist…
“Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023,” the Facebook post continued. “A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow. We started steaming from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada yesterday and are planning to start dive operations around 4am tomorrow morning. Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do.”
That post was Harding’s most recent social media update related to the submarine trip. It included multiple photographs of him, including one that showed Harding signing his name on a banner that read “Titanic Expedition Mission V” and another that pictured the submersible vessel itself.
Harding’s company, Action Aviation, later confirmed that he was one of the tourists on board, The Associated Press reported.
“There is still plenty of time to facilitate a rescue mission, there is equipment on board for survival in this event,” the company’s managing director, Mark Butler, told the AP. “We’re all hoping and praying he comes back safe and sound.”
Harding is a veteran adventure tourist who traveled to space aboard a Blue Origin rocket last year.
“Focus is on the crewmembers”
“Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families,” OceanGate said in its statement Monday, adding that it was “deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible.”
Exactly when the vessel last made contact has not been made public either, although the Coast Guard said in an update Monday that a crew was “searching for an overdue Canadian research submarine” in waters roughly 900 miles from the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
A @USCG C-130 crew is searching for an overdue Canadian research submarine approximately 900 miles off #CapeCod.
For more info and inquiries, please email d1publicaffairs@uscg.mil
Personnel from the Rescue Coordination Center in Halifax, a city in the eastern Canadian province of Nova Scotia, near Newfoundland, sent its P8 Poseidon aircraft to assist in the search since the craft has “underwater detection capabilities,” the Coast Guard wrote in a separate update Monday afternoon.
OceanGate said in a tweet shared earlier this month that it was using the satellite company Starlink to maintain communication with the submersible craft as it journeyed toward the Titanic wreckage.
Despite being in the middle of the North Atlantic, we have the internet connection we need to make our #Titanic dive operations a success – thank you @Starlink! pic.twitter.com/sujBmPr3JD
— OceanGate Expeditions (@OceanGateExped) June 1, 2023
“Despite being in the middle of the North Atlantic, we have the internet connection we need to make our Titanic dive operations a success — thank you Starlink,” OceanGate wrote in the tweet, which it posted alongside an image of the submersible attached to a deck on the surface of the ocean. The company last tweeted about its Titanic expedition on June 15.
The Titan
Dubbed the Titan, OceanGate’s deep sea vessel is said to be the only five-person submersible in the world with capabilities to reach its depth at nearly 2 1/2 miles beneath the ocean’s surface, CBS “Sunday Mornings” correspondent David Pogue reported last year.
It is one of three submersible crafts owned by OceanGate that appear on the company’s website, BBC News reported, adding that the vessel typically carries a pilot, three paying guests and another person described as a “content expert” by the company. Referencing the OceanGate website, which was down on Monday afternoon, BBC News additionally reported that the Titan, weighing around 23,000 pounds, is billed for its ability to reach depths of up to 4,000 meters — just about 2 1/2 miles — and has about 96 hours of live support for a crew of five people.
In the fall, Pogue hoped to accompany the Titan crew on a successful round-trip from Newfoundland to the Titanic wreck, but their expedition was canceled when weather conditions indicated it may not be safe. At the time, he described the Titan as a one-of-a-kind submersible craft made from thick carbon fiber and coated on both ends by a dome of titanium.
Ahead of the planned dive, Pogue recalled signing paperwork that read, in part, “This experimental vessel has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body, and could result in physical injury, emotional trauma, or death.” Space inside the submarine was similar to the interior of a minivan, and, with just one button and a video game controller used to steer it, the vessel “seemed improvised, with off-the-shelf components,” Pogue said.
A search and rescue mission was underway Monday morning for a submarine that went missing in the North Atlantic on an expedition to explore the wreckage of the Titanic. Lt. Jordan Hart of the U.S. Coast Guard in Boston told CBS News that personnel were “currently undergoing a search and rescue operation” when asked about the rescue efforts off the coast of Newfoundland.
OceanGate Expeditions, a company that deploys manned submersibles for deep sea expeditions, confirmed in a statement that its sub was the subject of the rescue operation, adding that it was “exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely.”
The company did not say how many people were on board the missing vessel or whether any of them were paying tourists, whom it does take as passengers on its expeditions.
“Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families,” said OceanGate, adding that it was “deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible.”
A map shows the point where the RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic, on April 15, 1912, about 380 miles southeast of the Newfoundland, Canada coast and some 1,300 miles east of its destination in New York City.
Getty/iStockphoto
The U.S. Coast Guard said in a tweet that “A @USCG C-130 crew is searching for an overdue Canadian research submarine approximately 900 miles off #CapeCod,” and that the Rescue Coordination Center Halifax is assisting with a P8 Poseidon aircraft, which has underwater detection capabilities.
OceanGate recently said on its website and social media feeds that an expedition to the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, which lies about 400 miles southeast of the Newfoundland coast, was “underway.”
Contacted by CBS News, the Canadian Coast Guard said the rescue operation was being managed by the Boston Regional Coordination Center, and a map showing jurisdictions for the various coastal search and rescue agencies off the North American coast shows the location of the Titanic wreck within the Boston center’s area of responsibility.
Earlier this month, OceanGate said on Twitter that it was using satellite company Starlink to help maintain communications with its expedition to the Titanic.
Despite being in the middle of the North Atlantic, we have the internet connection we need to make our #Titanic dive operations a success – thank you @Starlink! pic.twitter.com/sujBmPr3JD
— OceanGate Expeditions (@OceanGateExped) June 1, 2023
“Despite being in the middle of the North Atlantic, we have the internet connection we need to make our Titanic dive operations a success — thank you Starlink,” the tweet said. The company’s website advertises seven-night voyages to see the Titanic wreckage priced at $250,000.
The company last tweeted about the Titanic expedition on June 15.
On Saturday, British businessman Hamish Harding shared on Facebook that he was among the group on the OceanGate expedition that had departed from St. Johns, Newfoundland, the day before, BBC News reported. “The team on the sub has a couple of legendary explorers, some of which have done over 30 dives to the RMS Titanic since the 1980s,” Harding wrote. He said it was “likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023” due to weather conditions, and that the team planned to start dive operations at around 4 a.m. Sunday.
OceanGate’s submersible, The Titan, is the only five-person sub in the world capable of reaching the Titanic wreck, which sits 2.4 miles below the sea surface. CBS News “Sunday Mornings” correspondent David Pogue joined the crew of the vessel, along with a small group of intrepid tourists, for a journey to see the world’s most famous shipwreck last year.
As he got situated in the vessel, which he said had about as much room inside as a minivan, Pogue said he “couldn’t help noticing how many pieces of this sub seemed improvised, with off-the-shelf components,” including a video game controller that was used to pilot the sub.
A German Shepherd has been rescued after she fell off a cliff and was injured in Oregon’s Ecola State Park, the U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday.
Around 7 p.m. local time, the dog fell about 300 feet down a cliff and ended up in an inaccessible part of Cannon Beach, the Coast Guard said. A helicopter crew was able to reach the dog and hoist her back up to her owner around 8:20 p.m., the Coast Guard said.
Video of the rescue showed the dog sitting on a rocky part of the beach and struggling to get to higher ground as waves crashed on the shore. A member of the Coast Guard rescue team was then lowered from a helicopter into the ocean, before swimming to rescue the dog.
#BREAKING Last night, Wednesday, at around 7 p.m. Coast Guard Air Station Astoria rescued a German Shepard after she fell off a cliff and was injured in Ecola State Park. pic.twitter.com/xN5Lhzw8R0
— USCGPacificNorthwest (@USCGPacificNW) June 15, 2023
The dog was lifted up to the helicopter with the rescuer and then returned to her owner.
The Coast Guard did not elaborate on what type of injuries the dog had or how severe they were.
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A 24-year-old Coast Guard veteran has been arrested in connection with a shooting at a Midtown Atlanta medical center Wednesday which left one woman dead and another four women wounded. The suspect was captured following a manhunt. Mark Strassmann reports.
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The search for three Americans who went missing earlier this month while sailing off the coast of Mexico has been suspended, authorities said Wednesday.
The U.S. Coast Guard said that it was informed by the Mexican Navy that it had suspended its search for Kerry O’Brien, Frank O’Brien and William Gross. The Coast Guard had been assisting in the search effort.
The three were last heard from on April 4 near Mazatlán, Mexico, according to the Coast Guard. They had been sailing aboard the “Ocean Bound” a 44-foot Lafitte sailboat.
An undated photo of Frank and Kerry O’Brien, two of the three U.S. sailors who went missing while sailing off the Pacific coast of Mexico in April 2023. They had been sailing aboard the “Ocean Bound,” a 44-foot Lafitte sailboat, pictured on the right.
U.S. Coast Guard
The sailors had left Mazatlán en route to San Diego, the Coast Guard said, and had been scheduled to stop in Cabo San Lucas on April 6, but they never arrived. Their last known communication came April 4, when they made calls requesting a stop in Cabo San Lucas for food and fuel.
The Coast Guard said Wednesday that its joint search effort with the Mexican Navy consisted of a cumulative 281 search hours, and covered just over 200,000 square nautical miles.
The search focused on Mexico’s northern Pacific coast, and resulted in no sign of either the missing sailors or their sailboat, the Coast Guard said.
Kerry and Frank O’Brien are a married couple. Kerry’s mother, Ellen Argall, told CBS News earlier this week that her daughter and son-in-law have sailed together for nearly 20 years and are both licensed boat captains. They asked Gross, who had 50 years of experience, to journey with them.
“It’s agony, pure agony,” Argall said. “I’ve been trying to hold myself together.”
There were reports of poor weather conditions the day they departed Mazatlán, the Coast Guard had said, and Ocean Bound’s navigational equipment was older.
“It’s a long trip for even in good conditions,” a Coast Guard spokesperson told CBS News.
— Elise Preston contributed to this report.
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The U.S. Coast Guard and the Mexican Navy are searching for three American sailors who were last heard from on April 4 near Mazatlán, Mexico.
Kerry O’Brien, Frank O’Brien and William Gross were aboard the sailing vessel “Ocean Bound,” a 44-foot La Fitte that left Mazatlán en route to San Diego, according to a news release Friday from the U.S. Coast Guard. The sailors planned to stop in Cabo San Lucas on April 6 for provisions and then report in before continuing on to San Diego.
But there has been no record of them arriving in Cabo San Lucas or a report in regarding their location, according to the release.
On Saturday, the U.S. Coast Guard’s Northern California division posted information and photos regarding the missing trio and their vessel.
The Mexican Navy, with the assistance of the #USCG, is searching for three American sailors, last heard from April 4, near Mazatlan, MX. en route to San Diego. Kerry and Frank O’Brien and William Gross were sailing aboard the 44-foot S/V Ocean Bound.https://t.co/0bzFQVsYC3pic.twitter.com/GCcbGBvkQH
“Search and rescue coordinators contacted marinas throughout Baja, Mexico, with negative sightings of the vessel,” according to the U.S. Coast Guard’s release. “Urgent marine broadcasts have been issued over VHF radio requesting all mariners to keep a look out for the missing persons and the vessel.”
Anyone with information should call the U.S. Coast Guard search and rescue coordination center at (510) 437-3701.
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If you want to eat well during your military service, the U.S. Coast Guard might be the military branch to join. And if you join as a cook, you’re in line for one of the guard’s biggest recruitment bonuses: $50,000.
But bonuses aren’t everything, as Admiral Linda Fagan seeks to stem the recruiting shortfalls that have plagued the guard — like the other branches — in the past few years. This year, the guard’s first woman commandant told a congressional committee in July, the service is projected to miss its 4,200 target by more than 1,000 recruits. The service has missed its recruitment goals for the last four years, falling short an average of 20% each year.
“My battle cry is tomorrow looks different and so will we,” she told CBS News in a recent interview.
Last year, the Coast Guard conducted more than 16,000 rescues and saved over 4,700 lives. Many of those rescues happened during natural disasters like hurricanes, which have become stronger due to climate change. More recently, it rescued a man who had fallen overboard on a cruise ship and who was near death after treading water for hours.
One of the obstacles is that potential recruits don’t know what the Coast Guard does, Fagan said. While the service is best known for its search and rescue work, it also conducts counternarcotics operations, icebreaking in the Arctic to open shipping lanes and economic and national security opportunities, and it trains allies and partners in maritime practices.
“We’re an arctic nation,” she said “And so ensuring our own national security and sovereignty in the Arctic is critical work.”
At the nation’s ports, the Coast Guard inspects incoming vessels for nefarious activity before the boats are allowed to enter.
“We are at all times a military agency,” Fagan said. “We’re a law enforcement agency [and] regulatory agency.”
To attract new recruits, the service is offering bonuses up to $50,000.
“One of the incentives is bonuses,” Fagan said. “We have some targeted bonuses. $50,000 if you want to join the Coast Guard as a cook. We have world-class cooks in the Coast Guard. We certainly eat well in this organization.”
But Fagan also said bonuses are a Band-Aid in solving the issues.
“My personal belief is if we don’t fundamentally alter some of the structure and assumptions around how we manage the workforce, the bonuses are a short-term fix,” she said.
The Coast Guard is also offering a new English learning program to help recruits who do not speak it as a first language gain more proficiency.
“Language should not be a barrier to service,” Fagan said.
It’s also changing the maximum age to enlist from 35 to 42, allowing single parents to enlist and reevaluating the debt requirements.
The Carnival cruise ship passenger who went overboard last Wednesday was near death when he was rescued, according to one of the U.S. Coast Guard officers who saved him.
Aviation survival technician Richard Hoefle told CBS News he believes “the survivor had about 30 seconds to a minute left before we would have lost him.”
The 28-year-old man had “an incredible will to survive,” Hoefle said.
“He fell off a boat, he didn’t have flotation, he didn’t have radio or flares,” Hoefle said. “He just had to do anything that he could with what he had, which was nothing.”
The passenger was reported missing by the crew of the Carnival Valor on Wednesday afternoon, the Coast Guard said last week.
The Coast Guard was then alerted by the crew of a bulk carrier after they spotted the man in the water, and he was rescued Thursday night about 20 miles south of Southwest Pass, Louisiana.
The man, who had been treading water for more than 15 hours, was airlifted to a hospital, where he is recovering from hypothermia.
The Coast Guard shared footage of the rescue on social media.
Asked whether he thinks the man will ever get back out on the water, Hoefle said, “I think he’d go on another cruise. He knows how to survive. He survived once already and, just keep his feet on board this time.”
Almost 100 people, mostly from Haiti, who were rescued from an overcrowded boat off the Florida coast had no food or water for two days, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
A Coast Guard helicopter spotted the 96 Haitians, as well as a passenger each from Uganda and the Bahamas, about 20 miles east of Boca Raton, Florida, last week. They were transferred to Bahamian authorities on Sunday.
The passengers told Coast Guard crew members that they had been at sea for a week and lacked food and water during the last two days. The 40-foot cabin cruiser was overloaded with 53 men, 35 woman and 10 children, the Coast Guard said in a statement.
No one was injured.
“Smugglers do not care whether you live or die,” said Capt. Robert Kinsey of the Coast Guard’s District Seven, citing the lack of sustenance and the overloaded vessel. “These people are lucky to be alive.”
A photo shows the U.S. Coast Guard rescuing 98 people from an overcrowded boat off the coast of Florida on Oct. 12, 2022.
