Coast Guard Suspends Search for Hawai’i Aloha Crew Member

After searching extensively, conducting 26 sorties and 80 mission hours that covered 676 square miles, the United States Coast Guard called off its search Tuesday for a missing mariner who was aboard the 74-foot sailing vessel, Hawai’i Aloha.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the missing boater’s family and friend,” said Petty Officer 1^st Class Stephen Woodbury, a duty watchstander at the Coast Guard Sector Honolulu command center. “We have exhausted all available resources in our efforts, but pending further developments, we have decided to suspend the search.”

Two MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crews from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point, as well as crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Kittiwake, an 87-foot Coastal Patrol Boat homeported in Honolulu and several crews from the Hawai’i County Fire Department, aided in the search for the unidentified missing man.

At 6:36 a.m. on Saturday morning, watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Honolulu were contacted by the Hawai’i County Fire Department who sighted a flare. The flare was later confirmed to have been fired by the crew of the Hawai’i Aloha, who had abandoned ship and were aboard a life raft.

Fire Department personnel rescued four of the five boaters. The vessel subsequently grounded and one crew member was reported missing.