Dana Point : Coast Guard Suspends Search Prompted by Call
The search for a vessel whose skipper reported he was sinking about 16 miles off Dana Point Harbor Thursday afternoon was suspended by the Coast Guard late Friday after aircraft had searched a 90-square-mile area and found no sign of the craft.
Petty Officer James MacPherson said helicopters and jet aircraft were hindered by heavy fog during much of the morning and early afternoon Friday, but when the weather cleared, they still were unable to locate any evidence of a sinking.
The first distress call came at 2:25 p.m. Thursday, with the caller saying his 26-foot Grand Banks power cruiser was taking water and “would sink in three minutes.” A second transmission was interrupted by some other vessel on the same channel, MacPherson said, and ended with the words “two miles from . . . .”
MacPherson said there had been no reports of missing vessels from any ports or marinas along the Southern California coast.
He added that the distress call was “not evaluated as a hoax.”
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