Pacific Magazine > Daily News

Coast Guard Find Missing Sailor

By Agnes E. Donato on Saipan
Tuesday: April 29, 2008

A vessel, which went missing on its way to Tinian in the Northern Marianas, has been found.

A search was launched for the 17-foot boat after the vessel’s master, Joseph Cruz, 43, failed to arrive on Tinian Monday afternoon.

The U.S. Coast Guard said Cruz was rescued in his vessel, 36 miles west of Tinian harbor, at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

“He is in stable condition although dehydrated. He will be transported to Saipan hospital for medical evaluation,” said Lt. Elizabeth Buendia of the Coast Guard rescue sub-center on Guam.

Buendia said search and rescue crews covered nearly 7,300 square miles before locating Cruz.

Cruz went missing on Monday at noon after he dropped off three hunters at Aguijan Island, locally known as Goat Island. He was expected to return to neighboring island Tinian that afternoon.

The weather was reasonable at that time.

At 8 p.m. Monday, the Coast Guard on Guam received a call from the Emergency Management Office on Saipan reporting the missing mariner and his vessel.

Life jackets are the only safety gear known to be on the vessel.

Tinian police officers conducted marina checks and found the truck and trailer still at the launch point on Tinian. A U.S. Navy helicopter was dispatched and conducted a two-hour search. In addition, Saipan and Tinian police boats were sent to look for the missing vessel.

Rescue crews from the Coast Guard, Navy and Northern Marianas’ Department of Public Safety continued the search today. A Coast Guard C-130 aircraft was to be sent from Hawaii to join the search.