Tagged: coast guard

The Coast Guard is searching for a missing kayaker in a more than 600-square-mile area of the Gulf of Mexico near Grand Isle.

Eric Richards, 32, went fishing Monday and was reported missing about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Coast Guard says that after Richards didn't show up at work on Tuesday, a co-worker went to a boat launch on Grand Isle and found his vehicle.

Cmdr. Russ Bowen, coordinator for the search, says two helicopters, two airplanes, a Coast Guard cutter, a 45-foot boat and a shallow-water craft are looking for Richards.

Richards' home town was not available.

Five fishermen have been rescued by the Coast Guard and group of good Samaritans after their boat struck a jetty at the mouth of the Mississippi River.

The Coast Guard says all five men were wearing lifejackets and didn't sustain any injuries in the collision early Saturday morning.

The crew of a 40-foot pilot boat arrived at the scene and brought the men aboard their boat before a Coast Guard helicopter responded to a distress call.

The rescued men had boarded a raft after their 65-foot vessel started taking on water.

The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating reports of pollution caused by Hurricane Isaac along the Gulf Coast. Cases range from oiled wildlife to overturned railcars containing hazardous chemicals.

The Coast Guard is searching the Gulf of Mexico near the Florida-Alabama state line for a man who failed to return home from a water-scooter trip as then-Tropical Storm Isaac was approaching the coast.

Chief Petty Officer Bobby Nash says the search began after the man's wife called the Pensacola station about 8:45 p.m. Monday. It resumed at dawn Tuesday.

He didn't have any details about the man.

He says a fixed-wing aircraft and a helicopter started the search, but the plane had to return — and winds were likely to get too rough for the helicopter.

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu is asking the Coast Guard to force BP PLC to clean up oil and equipment used in the response buried in the waters and mud along the coast.

In a letter, Landrieu asked the Coast Guard to figure out where oil remains along the coast — both in remote marshes and under the water along the coast — and to make sure large mats of buried oil from the 2010 BP spill are removed.

State officials say there are methods for removing the mats of oil but the Coast Guard has not said whether it will require BP to remove them.

VENICE — The Coast Guard says it rescued five boaters from a 26-foot pleasure craft that was taking on water near the Southwest Pass jetties.

Petty Officer Jonathan Lally says that after emergency signals from a satellite GPS system early Sunday, the Coast Guard found the owner's cell phone number, called him, and sent out a helicopter and boat.

He says a helicopter crew remained until a Coast Guard boat arrived to take the boaters to Cypress Cove Marina in Venice.