(PORT ARANSAS, Texas) — The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search Sunday morning for a boater who went missing after a tanker and recreational vessel with four people aboard collided early Saturday in Port Aransas Pass.
At 5:28 a.m. Saturday, an eyewitness called Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi via Channel 16 to report the incident, according to the service. The Coast Guard put out a call on the same channel asking boaters to be on the lookout for the wreckage and to help if they could.
A good Samaritan and a pilot boat recovered three people in the water and took them to shore, where Port Aransas Emergency Medical Services rendered aid. Two people were taken to a Corpus Christi hospital, where one, a 25-year-old male, was pronounced dead. The other remained hospitalized. The third man was treated and released.
The tanker involved was later reported to be Eagle San Antonio. The cause of the incident is under investigation.
The search for the missing man covered 127 square miles and a combined 44 hours. Water and weather conditions factored into the decision, a Coast Guard spokesman said. The search involved divers, boats, helicopters and airplanes.
Participating in the search besides Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi were Air Station Corpus Christi, USCG Port Aransas, the cutter Manta, the Aransas Pass Police Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Port of Corpus Christi Police Department and good Samaritan boaters.
