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Coast Guard calls off search mission after kayak found

This kayak was found overturned and floating near Plum Island. (Credit: U.S. Coast Guard, courtesy)
This kayak was found overturned and floating near Plum Island. (Credit: U.S. Coast Guard, courtesy)

Coast Guard officials have ended a search after covering nearly a 900-square-mile area over 26 hours after an abandoned kayak ended was spotted near Plum Island.

After starting the search on Tuesday afternoon, the search was suspended last night at 5:30.

“There are no plans to resume” the search, Lt. Martin Betts said this afternoon. “There’s not much more we can do.”

A good Samaritan noticed an overturned kayak off East Point and notified the Coast Guard about 3:20 p.m. on Tuesday. A small boat from the Montauk Coast Guard station and a helicopter were dispatched to locate a possible person in the water before the Coast Guard reported the search was suspended.

The Coast Guard has “very advanced technologies for tracking things in the water,” Lt. Betts said, taking into account things such as size, weight, tide and wind.

“They can compute drift patterns of where an object may be in the water,” he added.

However, after 26 hours, nothing was found. And hopefully, it stays that way. Unless someone is missing a kayak and some fishing poles.

“Hopefully somebody eventually comes and claims their kayak,” Lt. Betts said.

Anyone who knows anything about the missing kayak can call the Coast Guard Long Island Sound command center at 203-468-4444.