UPDATE: Coast Guard suspends search for missing kayaker on Lake Champlain

News Release

U.S. Coast Guard 1st District Northeast Contact: 1st District Public Affairs Office: (617) 223-8515 After Hours: (617) 717-9609 1st District online newsroom

UPDATE: Coast Guard suspends search for missing kayaker on Lake Champlain

BOSTON — The Coast Guard suspended its search Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. for a missing 41-year-old man on Lake Champlain.

The man was last seen Monday evening in the waters near Shelburne Point. The group he was kayaking with reported that his kayak had capsized and he planned to swim back to shore. He was reported missing after he did not return to shore.

He was not wearing a life jacket.

During the rescue effort, searchers covered 807 square miles during 29 hours of searches.

Involved in the search were:

•A Coast Guard Station Burlington 29-foot rescue boat crew

•A Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew and an HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane crew

•Customs and Border Protection

•Vermont State Police

•Shelburne Fire Rescue

•Charlotte Fire Rescue

“After an extensive search alongside our partners we made the difficult decision to suspend our search,” said Lt. Cmdr. Martin Bryant of Coast Guard Sector Northern New England. He also stressed the importance of wearing a life jacket while boating.

Last year there were 54 recreational boating deaths in the Northeast. Thirty-nine of the 54 people who died drowned and 41 of the 54 deaths were the result of capsizing or falling overboard. Thirty-nine of the 54 people who died were not wearing a life jacket and 19 out of the 54 deaths involved a paddle craft.

The search is suspended pending any further developments.

Editor’s note: The man's age was listed as 44-years-old in the previous release.

-USCG-