HONOLULU — The Coast Guard has suspended the search for a possible boater in distress near the Kona Airport on the Big Island, Saturday night, pending further developments.
After eight hours of searching following a received mayday call, the case was suspended with no signs of boaters in distress and no reports of overdue swimmers or boaters in the area.
At around 12:30 p.m., Saturday, Sector Honolulu watchstanders received a mayday call over channel 16 and used the Rescue 21 system to track the location of the call to approximately 4 miles northwest of Kona Airport.
The search was conducted by the Coast Guard, local emergency services and units involved in the Rim of the Pacific exercises off of Hawaii.
Involved in the search were:
-An MH-Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point
-The crew of the Coast Guard Gutter Joseph Gerzcak (WPC 1126)
-A Hawaii County Fire Department Air 1 helicopter crew
-A U.S. Navy P-3 Orion aircrew
-The crew of the Royal Australian Navy HMAS Success (OR 304)
Anyone with information regarding the mayday call is asked to contact the Sector Honolulu command center at 808-842-2600.
