Search continues for 2 Navy men kayaking near Channel Islands
U.S. Navy ships and aircraft as well as Coast Guard rescuers continued their search Thursday evening for two Navy sailors who disappeared while kayaking off San Nicolas Island on Wednesday.
Authorities said the two Seabees, who had been stationed on the island for the last two weeks, were last seen about noon Wednesday in two, 6-foot blue-and-white kayaks.
Searchers on the guided missile destroyer Momsen recovered two unmanned kayaks that fit the same description late Thursday, about 35 miles southeast of the island. The search for the sailors will continue overnight and into today, when the Navy will use a P-3 subhunting aircraft to scan the waters between the island and the recovered kayaks, authorities said.
“We’re focusing on the east and southeast portions off of San Nicolas Island,” U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Andrew Munoz said. “We start from their last known position, and based on the currents and the winds, we can look at the most likely areas to search.”
San Nicolas, one of Channel Islands, is 60 miles southwest of Los Angeles.
The missing sailors, both petty officers second class, were identified as Justin Johnson, 27, of Elkland, Mo., who works as an equipment operator, and Christopher Victor, 24, of Schertz, Texas, who works as a builder. The men belong to a detachment based in Gulfport, Miss.
The kayakers set out with two friends about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday and had planned to paddle around the island, Munoz said.
Rescuers worked through the night Wednesday trying to find the sailors, at one time using five search helicopters and an 87-foot Coast Guard cutter.
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