BUFFALO – The Coast Guard continues searching for a man who went missing in Lake Erie Tuesday.
Missing is 37-year-old Giusseppe Reinhart from Niagara Falls, Ontario.
By 7 a.m. Thursday, boat and air crews searched 3,720 square nautical miles, almost half the size of Lake Erie, and conducted more than 60 search patterns. This is Coast Guard Sector Buffalo’s largest search on Lake Erie in recent years.
Involved in the search are:
- response boats from Coast Guard Station Buffalo
- a boat from the Coast Guard Auxiliary
- a helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Detroit
- an airplane from Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Trenton, Ontario
- boats from the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary
- an airplane from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod, Massachusetts
- a helicopter from the Erie County Sherriff’s Office
- a boat and helicopter from Niagara County
- a boat from Hamburg Police Department
- a boat and helicopter from Customs and Border Protection
At 1 p.m. Tuesday, Coast Guard Sector Buffalo watch standers received notification that a vessel had washed ashore near Hamburg, New York. The vessel showed signs of having been used recently, but the owner was not with the boat.
By using information on the boat and reaching out to family, the Coast Guard was able to determine that Reinhart, who had gone fishing alone Tuesday morning, was missing.
Coast Guard Sector Buffalo issued an urgent marine information broadcast asking all mariners to keep a lookout for Reinhart.
The Coast Guard is asking that anyone with information about Reinhart call Coast Guard Sector Buffalo at 716-843-9527.