Coast Guard suspends search for tugboat crew member who went overboard off of Rhode Island

By Colin A. Young

April 26, 2012

Coast Guard crews this afternoon suspended their search off the coast of Rhode Island for a man who may have fallen overboard into the frigid Atlantic from a tugboat on Wednesday afternoon.

Around 2:40 p.m. Wednesday, the crew of the 91-foot tugboat Steven-Scott reported that the 48-year-old captain hadn’t been seen since about 1:30 p.m. and may have fallen overboard, the Coast Guard said. The man may not have been wearing a lifejacket.

The Coast Guard broadcast an urgent alert to all mariners in the area and dispatched a motor life boat, a response boat, two patrol boats, and a helicopter to the area. They searched 775 square miles.

The agency said in a statement today it had conducted a “thorough search with multiple assets,’’ but had suspended the search at 1:36 p.m.

At the time the Coast Guard believes the man fell overboard, the Steven-Scott was in three- to five-foot seas approximately nine miles nine miles south of Newport, R.I., according to the Coast Guard. A spokesman described the conditions as “a little bit kicked up.’’

The New York-based tugboat remained in the area, while another tugboat relieved it of its tow – a barge carrying 45,000 barrels of jet fuel. The water temperature in the area is about 52 degrees, the Coast Guard said.