GRAYS HARBOR, Wash. — An Oregon City man is missing after he fell overboard while fishing off the Washington Coast Thursday afternoon, according to the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).
Jason LaBrie, 47, had been fishing for halibut on a 26-foot fishing vessel about 28 miles northwest of Grays Harbor, Wash when he went missing. Fishermen he was with contacted the Coast Guard shortly after 12:30 p.m. when they noticed he was no longer on the boat, the USCG said in a news release.
Within minutes, the Coast Guard radioed all other boats in the area where LaBrie went overboard, then immediately sent out a 47-foot lifeboat and a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter to find him. Officials said search-and-rescue crews were on scene by 1:10 p.m.
An HC-27 Spartan airplane and a Coast Guard Cutter vessel joined search efforts a couple hours later.
After completing 18 searches over a 22-hour span, the Coast Guard suspended search efforts on Friday.
"The decision to suspend a search is one of the most difficult decisions we have to make,” said Capt. Nathan Coulter, chief of incident management for the 13th Coast Guard District. “We offer our deepest sympathies to the family of Jason LaBrie in this difficult time.”
