1 Dead, 1 Missing After Boat Breaks Up

One man was killed and another person was reported missing Sunday after their 16-foot fishing boat broke up somewhere outside San Diego Bay, the U.S. Coast Guard reported.

The motor boat, with two people aboard, left the harbor on a fishing trip sometime Saturday, said Chuck Long, a Coast Guard Auxiliary member and spokesman.

Early Sunday morning, the pilot of another boat found the remains of the vessel floating just south of Point Loma, Long said.

“Visibility was very minimal” Saturday night, Long said. “But the information is still sketchy as to what happened. We didn’t have any good clues--the boat wasn’t even reported as being overdue.”

Coast Guard vessels, dispatched to search the area, soon found the body of Chanh Huynh, 33, of San Diego, washed up on rocks. Huynh was pronounced dead on arrival at UC San Diego Medical Center, Long said.

Authorities found an engine, an ignition console, life jackets and portable fuel cans floating in the waters near Point Loma, Long said.

They found no name on the vessel, but they did recover a fragment from the boat’s hull that showed its 1990 license tag number. Coast Guard personnel were able to track down a previous owner of the boat, who said he had recently sold his boat to Huynh.

Authorities were later able to confirm that Huynh and a companion had left on a fishing trip this weekend, Long said.

Coast Guard Auxiliary members walked the coastline throughout the day, searching for the second person in the boat. The search was suspended Sunday at dusk and was scheduled to resume today.