USCG unable to find missing fishing boat, 2 crew members

The search for a fishing boat lost in rough water off the Maryland coast resumed Thursday morning but yielded no results.

Wednesday, a crew member aboard the boat was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard before the search and rescue mission was suspended due to low visibility from clouds, rainfall and on scene winds of 50 to 60 mph.

Officials with the USCG say the 67-foot boat, named Seafarer, became disabled about 15 miles east of Assateague Island. The ship was being towed but the connection was lost in rough water.

In addition to the missing boat, there are also two missing crew members. Those two men are identified as Steven and Walter Tate of New Bern, N.C.

Thursday morning a second Jayhawk crew from the air station resumed the search until 1 p.m., when the case was suspended pending further developments.

“We want to extend our most sincere condolences to the families of the missing crew members,” said Thomas Botzenhart, a search and rescue controller at the 5th Coast Guard District command center. “We have expended multiple Coast Guard assets to search for their loved ones.  We have searched over 560 square nautical miles of the Atlantic Ocean off the eastern shore of Virginia in an effort to locate and rescue their family members.  It is with a great deal of sorrow that we have been unable to locate them at this point of time.”

The Seafarer is owned by Hobo Seafoods of Scranton, N.C.