The following is the text of a news release from the U.S. Coast Guard:
(PORTSMOUTH, Va.) (March 17) — The U.S. Coast Guard is searching with a research vessel crew for a person in the water approximately 1,500 miles southeast of Bermuda.
A C-130 Hercules aircraft crew from Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., arrived on scene at about noon and joined the search for a 31-year-old male from Papua New Guinea who was noticed missing Monday aboard the Russian-flagged research vessel Professor Logachev at approximately 6:30 p.m.
Watchstanders at the Coast Guard 5th District Command Center in Portsmouth received notification Monday at about 8 p.m., and the Hercules aircraft crew launched at about 11:40 p.m. The crew landed in Barbados to refuel before joining the search.
The Coast Guard issued a search pattern to the crew aboard Professor Logachev based on drift projection models.
