Coast Guard Suspends Search for Missing Boater Bound for Indian Rocks Beach
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U. S. Coast Guard crews have suspended their search for a 70-year-old-man who was last seen departing a Marco Island marina on Monday bound for Indian Rocks Beach. Bert Erwin was last seen Monday at Rose Marina in Marco Island in his 37-foot fishing boat, according to a news release from the Coast Guard. On Wednesday morning, a good Samaritan reported to the Coast Guard that Erwin was overdue to arrive in Pinellas County.
Air and surface crews began a search. In an update Thursday afternoon, the Coast Guard said crews located Erwin’s disabled white boat about 28 miles off Englewood. No one was aboard. A photo released by the U. S.
Coast Guard on Friday shows a Coast Guard vessel, left, with the fishing boat of Bert Erwin, who left the Rose Marina on Marco Island on Monday, Sept. 9 bound for Indian Rocks Beach but never arrived. The Coast Guard began a search on Wednesday and found Erwin's 37-foot boat with no one aboard on Thursday. In a news release Friday morning, the Coast Guard said it had suspended the search “pending new information. ” Crews searched more than 8,000 square miles — an area almost the size of the state of New Jersey — battling 10-knot winds and 3-foot seas, the release said.
“We offer our deepest condolences to Mr. Erwin’s loved ones,” Lt. Andrew Grady, search and rescue mission coordinator at Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg, said in the news release. “One of the hardest decisions to make during a search is a suspension.
” Anyone with information should call U. S. Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg command center at 866-881-1392.