Coast Guard, local agencies searching for missing 34 year-old boater

News Release

U.S. Coast Guard 5th District Mid-Atlantic Contact: 5th District Public Affairs Office: (757) 398-6272 After Hours: (757) 295-8435 5th District online newsroom

 

Coast Guard, local agencies searching for missing 34 year-old boater

PORTSMOUTH, Va. – The Coast Guard and local agencies are searching for Russell Hines, a 34 year-old boater who was reported overdue Monday morning.

Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Virginia were notified by the James City County Sheriff's Office that Hines’s 29-foot boat was discovered aground with the engine running in the James River, in the vicinity of Gray's Creek, near Williamsburg, with signs of recent occupancy.

A 29-foot Response Boat-Small boatcrew from Coast Guard Station Portsmouth was dispatched to the scene along with the Coast Guard Cutter Dolphin, an 87-foot patrol boat. An MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter crew was launched from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina to search from the air.

Also searching are:

• James City County Fire Department 
• James City County Police Department
• Virginia Marine Resources Commission 
• Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources 
• West Point Volunteer Fire Department 
• Prince George's County Fire Department 
• Newport News Fire Department 

Anyone with any information about Russell Hines’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Sector Virginia Command Center at (757) 483-8567.

-USCG-