Search crews continue to scour Newport Beach for fisherman missing since Christmas Eve

Rescue crews Wednesday logged their seventh day of searching for a man from Reno who reportedly went fishing on a jetty near the Wedge in Newport Beach on Christmas Eve morning and hasn’t been heard from since.

An avid fisherman, Lu Thu “Tyler” Tran, 42, was said to be visiting family members in Garden Grove over the holiday, when he decided tofish on the west Newport Harbor jetty, according to Garden Grove Police Department Sgt. Nick Jensen.

Throughout the morning, Tran maintained cellphone contact with his family, but at some point the communications ceased, causing Tran’s relatives to be worry, Jensen said Wednesday.

“They started getting concerned that he’s not answering,” he said. “They drive to Newport and find his car, but not him. They go out to the jetty and find his stuff, but he’s not there.”

Jensen said someone called 911 and was reportedly put in touch with the Newport Beach Police Department, which has since coordinated a search for Tran with the local fire department’s lifeguard division and the Orange County Sheriff Department Harbor Patrol.

Later in the evening on Dec. 24, a relative residing in Garden Grove contacted the police department to file a missing person’s report, as Newport Beach oversees search efforts, Jensen added.

NBFD Lifeguard Battalion Chief Mike Ure said the department was notified about the incident on Christmas Day and has since been actively engaged in a full-scale search for Tran, with personal watercraft and a rescue boat still scouring the jetty and nearby waters on Wednesday.

Dynamic and at times inclement weather may have played a role in Tran’s disappearance, which Ure said was reportedly captured by a surfline camera and obtained by family members, and has complicated search efforts in the days that have followed.

“It was the middle of a storm, and there were heavy winds — the waves were not super big, but there was wind chop,” the battalion chief said of the weather conditions on Dec. 24.

Search crews initially performed land patrols, going out on foot to check rocks along the west jetty, near where Tran’s rods, reels and ice chest had been located. Since then, divers have been deployed, while boats and drones search a wider area, doubling back to see if currents may have carried something back to a location already checked.

“We’re going day to day based on the weather,” Ure said of the effort by land, air and sea. “With currents and winds changing directions completely, 180 degrees, we’re just covering all the areas and recovering other areas. It’s a very dynamic environment.”