Body of Man, 21, Missing Off Catalina Island Found

The body of Andre Krasowskis, who disappeared Thursday in a small boat near Avalon Harbor, was discovered off the Santa Catalina coast Saturday tangled in ropes underneath his overturned dinghy, the Coast Guard reported.

A passing pleasure cruiser first spotted the body of the 21-year-old YMCA camp worker about 18 miles east of Avalon and notified the harbor patrol, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Jeffrey Payne.

“The body was entangled in lines underneath the overturned vessel,” said Payne. Harbor patrol crews recovered the body and towed the boat into port.

Krasowskis had been the object of a widespread air and sea search since he disappeared while performing a routine chore in the dinghy for the YMCA’s Camp Fox. Camp officials speculated the experienced boat handler was blown out to sea by gusting winds.

Payne said a coroner’s investigation would determine how long Krasowskis had been dead.

Krasowskis had set out in the dinghy to remove the canvas cover on a ski boat anchored about 100 yards off shore. The cover had appeared in danger of being blown away by rising winds, although the sea was reasonably calm when Krasowskis began his task, said Dave Horne, winter manager of Camp Fox.

No one at the camp noticed what happened to Krasowskis, but the alarm was sounded when he failed to come back after about an hour.