Coast Guard suspends search for missing Florida boater days after finding his empty vessel miles offshore

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U.S. Coast Guard crews have suspended the search for a boater missing off the coast of Florida just days after finding the man’s vessel miles from shore with no one on board, officials said Wednesday.

Rescue crews combed about 1,514 square miles over the span of three days after 57-year-old Andre Nolasco was reported missing on Monday, the Coast Guard said.

“We offer our deepest sympathies and condolences to Andre Nolasco’s loved ones,” Lt. Carleigh Long, SAR Mission Coordinator at Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg, said in a statement. “The decision to suspend a search is always difficult and never done lightly.”

Nolasco’s girlfriend alerted the Coast Guard around 12 p.m. Monday that Nolasco never returned after launching from Nick’s Park boat ramp in Port Richey the previous morning.

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Andre Nolasco, 57, was reported missing after setting sail from Nick’s Park in Port Richey, Florida, on Sunday morning. (U.S. Coast Guard Southeast)

Air and water crews launched a search for Nolasco, with officials updating later Monday that a Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater MH60 Jayhawk helicopter found his vessel about 8 miles west of Hudson, a community just north of Port Richey.

The search for Andre Nolasco was suspended Wednesday pending the retrieval of new information. (U.S. Coast Guard / Petty Officer 3rd Class Santiago Gomez)

The boat, however, had no one on board.

A Coast Guard MH60 Jayhawk helicopter located Andre Nolasco’s boat on Monday. Crews, however, found no sign of Nolasco on board. (U.S. Coast Guard Southeast)

Crews continued to search for a person in the water throughout the night into Tuesday morning without success. Subsequent searches throughout Tuesday and Wednesday were also unsuccessful.

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The Coast Guard said the search will remain suspended unless new information is retrieved.

U.S. Coast Guard crews covered about 1,514 square miles over three days during the search for Andre Nolasco. (U.S. Coast Guard / Petty Officer 3rd Class Santiago Gomez)

Six crews were involved in the search from Coast Guard stations in Clearwater, Sand Key and Yankeetown, along with sheriff’s offices of Pasco and Hernando Counties and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservations Commission. 

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Nolasco, a father of two, lived in Port Richey, originally being from the Dominican Republic, his family told WTSP-TV.