Mounted Search And Rescue

Coast Guard: Sunken Sailboat Search Suspended; Case Not Abandoned

There is a possibility that they’re still out there , but the U.S. Coast Guard authorities have “suspended any sort of active search for any missing persons and/or vessels” off the coast of Sandy Hook, U.S. Coast Guard Spokeswoman Jetta Disco said at about 3:30 p.m., on her way back from the scene.

That was about 12 hours after an initial distress call hit the airwaves.

“We have information leading us to believe that this was an actual call for help, unless we hear otherwise.” Disco said. “So we are continuing to treat it as an official search and rescue case. At this point, though, we’ve suspended the active search, because we’ve exhausted every avenue — completed all tasking.”

Disco said that air, land and sea assets, from the Coast Guard to local agencies, including the Middletown Township Police Department’s dive unit, had saturated the area and found “no debris or anyone in distress — no sign at all of the reported incident.”

Helicopters, boats and even a falcon jet had been deployed to search an area of more than 600 square miles, she said. Disco added that the conditions for a search were optimal, as well, with calm waters and high visibility in daytime hours.

“If anyone sees anyone or thing out there we will reopen the search,” she said. “Again, right now we have no reason at all to believe that this is not a real case.”

The New York offices of the Coast Guard got an initial distress call from a reported 33-foot sailboat named Courtney Lynn at about 3:15 a.m., authorities said.

Passengers reported that the boat was “taking on water,” a released statement from the Coast Guard said.

“Shortly before 4 a.m., the crew of the sailing vessel reported to the Coast Guard that the vessel was almost submerged and that they were planning to abandon the sailboat and board an attached small gray dingy,” it added.

Rescue aircraft and boats from the Coast Guard and other local and state agencies were dispatched and the search was mounted.

“Communications with the sailing vessel crew were lost when they reportedly abandoned ship,” the release said. “They notified the Coast Guard that they did not have a hand-held radio, flares or sound-producing devices.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Coast Guard Sector New York Command Center at 718-354-4353.

Nineteen Troopers Graduate Mounted Search and Rescue Certification ...

Concluding nearly a year and a half of coursework and over 200 hours of training for each individual, nineteen troopers graduated their Mounted Search and Rescue (MSAR) course making them the first and only certified MSAR unit in the State of Connecticut.

At a brief graduation ceremony held in their headquarters in Avon on May 5th, the graduates celebrated the conclusion of a long training process which included three FEMA courses on incident management and response, the

six-day Fundamentals of Search and Rescue (FUNSAR) course, the three-day Search Management course, crime scene preservation, first aid certification, large animal first aid, and over twenty hours of land navigation training.

Troopers invested their own time and money in taking the coursework, at no expense to the state, to offer this volunteer emergency resource.

The next phase for the MSAR graduates is continued field training and developing a memorandum of understanding between the CT Military Department and the Capitol Region’s ESF#9 (Search and Rescue) for call-out in events of lost persons.

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