Coast Guard Suspends Search for Missing Hydaburg Man

Location of Hydaburg, Eek Point and Round Point on Blanket Island. Image- NOAA Charts
Location of Hydaburg, Eek Point and Round Point on Blanket Island. Image- NOAA Charts

The US Coast Guard announced on Saturday that they were suspending the search for the missing Hydaburg man, 20-year-old Francis Charles of Hydaburg following negative results.

Hydaburg SAR contacted the watchstanders at the USCG Sector Juneau Command Center and requested assistance in the search for Charles on Thursday evening. 

Charles had failed to return to Hydaburg from a fish camp at Eek Point on Thursday afternoon, and Hydaburg searchers had located Charles’s unoccupied 18-foot skiff near California Island. Boots, suspected of belonging to Charles, were found floating near the beach at Round Point, on Blanket Island.

An Urgent Marine Information Broadcast was issued and a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter was launched from Air Station Sitka. The Coast Guard Cutter John McCormick and the Anacapa also took up the search along with several Hydaburg SAR boat crews.

The search for Charles, who was last seen in a blue floatation coat and tan chest waders, covered over 180 square miles with no further results.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]