By Forum Staff
The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday suspended its search Monday at approximately 6 p.m. for a man who went missing after a boat capsized and five people were recovered near the entrance to the Ambrose Channel Sunday afternoon.
The missing person has been identified as 52-year-old Vernon Glasford of the Bronx who was last seen wearing a gray hoodie, blue jeans, and black boots.
Coast Guard crews searched a combined total of approximately 842 square miles over the course of 30 hours, utilizing crews aboard helicopters, planes, ships and small boats.
The vessel reportedly departed from Howard Beach Sunday morning and was fishing recreationally. The boat was reported as a Grady White, approximately 30 feet long.
Photo Courtesy of USCG
Ambrose Channel is the only shipping channel in and out of the Port of New York and New Jersey. The channel is considered to be part of Lower New York Bay and is located several miles off the coasts of Sandy Hook, N.J., and Breezy Point.
The water temperature in the search area was approximately 38 degrees.
Four of the five rescued Sunday were unresponsive. A Coast Guard Station Sandy Hook boat crew recovered three people, an Air Station Atlantic City air crew recovered one, and an NYPD aviation crew recovered one additional person. All five people were transported to local hospitals.
The incident began on Sunday at 12:04 p.m. when Coast Guard Sector New York received a notification from New York City 911 operators about a vessel taking on water near Breezy Point, a neighborhood at the tip of Queens’ Rockaway peninsula. Coast Guard watchstanders issued an urgent marine information broadcast and deployed three rescue boats from Coast Guard Station New York and Station Sandy Hook and an MH-65 helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City.
