Coast Guard imagery courtesy of Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans (archive).
NEW ORLEANS — The Coast Guard has ended its search for a person who was last seen swimming in the Lower Mississippi River near Venice, Louisiana, Sunday.
Coast Guard crews searched 216 square miles for approximately 26 hours.
“The decision to end a search is never easy,” said Lt. Cmdr. Patrick Plummer, a search and rescue mission coordinator at Coast Guard Sector New Orleans. “We saturated the search area with multiple crews from different units but were unable to locate the missing man. Our thoughts are with the family of the missing man during this difficult time.”
Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector New Orleans received a report at 5:38 p.m. Saturday of a missing 26-year-old man who was last seen swimming in the Lower Mississippi River near mile marker 19 at Fort Jackson at 5 p.m.
The missing man was wearing a black shirt and blue shorts.
Involved in the search were:
- An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans
- A response boat medium crew from Coast Guard Station Venice
- The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Sailfish
- A marine unit from Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office
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