UPDATED: Coast Guard, other agencies searching Pamlico sound for missing boater

Published 6:40 pm Wednesday, August 3, 2022

UPDATE: The Coast Guard announced via Twitter late Thursday morning that it had ended the search for missing boater in Pamlico Sound. The boater was located ashore in Rodanthe on Thursday morning, according to the message, and was reported safe.

The Coast Guard reported late Wednesday afternoon, August 3 that it has crews searching the Pamlico Sound for a missing boater after he did not return to shore as expected Tuesday evening.

The missing boater has been identified as John Hess, 38, from Buxton.

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Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector North Carolina command center received notification of the situation from Carteret County Emergency Dispatch at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday, according to a press release from U.S. Coast Guard 5th District Mid-Atlantic.

It was relayed that Hess took a friend’s 23-foot boat from a private residence in Beaufort onto the South River at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and did not return at night as expected. The boat’s owner searched for Hess overnight with no results, then alerted authorities, according to the release.

A Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City MH-60 Jayhawk Helicopter crew and response boat crews from Coast Guard Station Hatteras Inlet and Coast Guard Station Hobucken are searching for Hess. Also assisting in the search are personnel from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, Harkers Island Fire Department, North Carolina Marine Patrol and the South River-Merrimon Fire Department.

Those with additional information regarding this case are asked to contact the Sector North Carolina command center at 910-343-3880.

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