Coast : Lack of Telephone Call Touches Off Sea Search

Five Newport Beach teen-agers who forgot to call home when they arrived safely at Catalina Island triggered a search by a Coast Guard helicopter and boats Thursday morning.

Sean Casey, 18, and his sister Shannon, 15, had taken three of their friends to Catalina early Wednesday in their family’s boat with the intention of notifying their parents on their arrival. When her children hadn’t called by 10:30 p.m., Alverta Casey called the Harbor Patrol to report them missing, officials said. By 6 a.m. Thursday morning, a Coast Guard rescue boat, a helicopter and the cutter Point Evans had joined in the search, Petty Officer Don Roberts said.

At 7:10 a.m., the search was called off when the Isthmus Harbor Patrol found the youths safe and sound. They had just forgotten to call home, Roberts reported.