4 Fishermen Go Missing Off Texas Gulf Coast

After 4 fishermen went missing off the Texas Gulf coast, the US Coast Guard has expanded a search for their 50-foot vessel.

The 4 fishermen went missing early Friday morning, with a distress signal emanating from their boat at close to 3:30 am. The boat was close to 115 miles southeast of Galveston, close to the state’s border with Louisiana, when it began sinking.

One of the 4 fishermen who went missing was found a few hours later. A search team member came across John Robinson on a life raft at about 8:30 am. But the other four on board the fishing boat remained unaccounted for early on Saturday.

The Coast Guard search crews were using an aircraft and a cutter to search four the fishermen. As the sun rose on Saturday, the crews added two more aircraft.

“We’re going to keep searching until someone tells us to stop,” said Petty Officer Richard Brahm.

He said the Coast Guard uses a variety of information to determine if someone missing is believed to be alive, which would allow search efforts to continue. Once it is believed they are no longer alive the efforts would shift to a rescue mission.

Other lost fishermen have came out of worse situations. In Jamaica, three fishermen were lost for three days on the Caribbean sea before being found.

The Jamaicans were on a small boat that broke a motor, leaving them stuck in the sweltering Caribbean sea. They survived the ordeal by eating some of the raw fish they caught and drank melted ice.

Everton Gregory and John Sobah brought along 14 buckets of ice and 16 gallons of water along with several bags of cereal, bread, and fruit. They planned a short trip to fish for wahoo, tuna, and mahi mahi.

The crews searching for the 4 fishermen missing off the coast of Texas are covering an area close to the size of Delaware.