PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The Coast Guard is searching for a missing man Sunday believed to have entered the water near the entrance to Chesapeake Bay.
Watchstanders at Sector Hampton Roads in Portsmouth received a report Sunday from two crew members aboard a 31-foot fishing vessel anchored just south of Fisherman’s Island and east of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, stating the captain of the vessel was believed to have fallen overboard while they were sleeping between 11:30 p.m. Saturday and 12:30 a.m. Sunday.
A 45-foot Response Boat-Medium (RBM) crew launched from Station Cape Charles, an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew launched from Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and the crew of Coast Guard Cutter Shearwater launched from Base Portsmouth to search in the dark Sunday morning.
The crew of the Shearwater, 45-foot RBM crews and MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crews searched through the day Sunday.
Currently searching is a 45-foot RBM crew from Station Little Creek, a C-130 Hercules aircraft crew from Air Station Elizabeth City and the crew of the Shearwater. Also searching are crews with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, the Virginia Port Authority Maritime Incident Response Team, among others.
The approximate water temperature in the vicinity of the search is 66 degrees. Visibility is about ten miles.
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