The Coast Guard said Saturday night it was suspending the search for a U.S. Navy sailor who went missing in Crescent Harbor on the east side of Whidbey Island.
“The decision to suspend a search is the most difficult decision to make as a responder,” said Capt. Sean Cross, chief of incident management, Coast Guard 13th District. “Our condolences go out the family, friends and shipmates of this young sailor.“
The sailor went missing after his boat broke apart in Crescent Harbor.
A watchstander at Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound, in Seattle, received a report of one person in the water at 1:40 p.m. Saturday. A woman aboard the boat swam ashore and reported the incident and the missing person.
The search was suspended at 10 p.m. for the missing sailor, a 33-year-old man assigned to Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, after more than eight hours of searching by numerous crews from Coast Guard, Navy and local responders, according to the Coast Guard.
Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles aircrews conducted nine searches, and the Navy aircrew searched for four hours.
The Coast Guard boat crew from Station Seattle and crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Sea Lion searched for six hours. An aircrew aboard a Seahawk helicopter from NAS Whidbey also joined the search, along with responders from the Island County Sheriff’s Office and local fire departments.
Sailors from the missing man’s unit combed the beaches of Whidbey Island.
