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HOUSTON — The Coast Guard is searching for a 65-year-old man Friday who went missing while boating near Galveston, Texas.

Missing is a 5-foot-9, white male last seen wearing board shorts, a t-shirt and a ball cap. It is unknown if the man is wearing a life jacket.

Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston command center watchstanders received a call at about 7 p.m. Thursday from a woman stating her father was aboard a disabled 19-foot boat and needed help in the vicinity of the Galveston jetties.

Watchstanders issued a marine assistance request broadcast and launched a Coast Guard Station Galveston 45-foot Response Boat–Medium crew to assist.

While the RB–M crew arrived on scene and began searching for the vessel, command center watchstanders sent the man i911 pings to pinpoint his exact location. The man accepted only the first ping; subsequent requests went unanswered. After searching near the Galveston Fairway Anchorage and launching a flare to attract the boater’s attention, the RB–M crew did not locate the disabled vessel.

At 9:15 p.m., Bayou City Pilots came across an unmanned, adrift Blue Wave vessel with a registration number matching that of the man’s boat near the entrance to the Galveston channel. The Station Galveston boat crew diverted to that location while a Coast Guard Air Station MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew launched to search for the boater. A Texas Parks & Wildlife Department boat crew also joined the search.

Additionally, an HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane from Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi and the crew of Coast Guard Cutter Hawk, an 87-foot coastal patrol boat homeported in Galveston, joined the search Friday morning. 

Involved in the search are:

• Coast Guard Station Galveston
• Coast Guard Air Station Houston
• Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi
• Coast Guard Cutter Hawk
• Texas Parks & Wildlife Department

Anyone with information that may assist search efforts should contact Sector Houston-Galveston at (281) 464-4851.

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