MOBILE,
Ala. — The Coast Guard ended its search Thursday for a 14-year-old boy who was
last seen swimming at Henderson Beach State Park in Destin, Florida..
A
beachgoer found a body matching the description of the missing boy on James Lee
Beach at 2:22 p.m.
Coast
Guard Sector Mobile watchstanders received notification at approximately 6:45
p.m. Wednesday from Okaloosa Sheriff’s County Office personnel that the boy’s
friends last saw him struggling to swim in the surf 200 feet off the beach
before he went under the water and did not resurface.
Sector
Mobile watchstanders issued an urgent marine information broadcast and launched
a 45-foot Response Boat–Medium crew from Coast Guard Station Destin, a
Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Aviation
Training Center Mobile, and the crew of Coast Guard Cutter Ridley, an 87-foot
patrol boat homeported in Panama City, Florida.
“We are
grateful for the collaborative interagency relationships that contributed to
locating the boy," said Coast Guard Cmdr. Kara Lavin, search and rescue
mission coordinator at Sector Mobile. "Our thoughts are with his family
during this challenging time."
Involved
in the search were:
Coast
Guard Sector Mobile
Coast Guard
Station Destin
Coast Guard
Air Station New Orleans (via Aviation Training Center Mobile)
Coast Guard
Cutter Ridley
Okaloosa
Sheriff’s County Office
Florida Fish
and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Destin Beach
Patrol
