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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesCOAST GUARD CALLS OFF SEARCH

COAST GUARD CALLS OFF SEARCH

After a two-day search covering 150 square miles, the Coast Guard suspended the search at 11:15 a.m. Friday for Chrismodalis Thomas, 28, of St. Thomas.
Thomas, known as "Chris," was reported missing at 2 p.m. Wednesday when he didn't return from fishing.
St. Thomas Rescue conducted a shoreline search Wednesday night. Its members located Thomas' car at Tropaco Point near Hull Bay but there was no sign of Thomas.
The Coast Guard Greater Antilles Rescue Center in San Juan was notified early Thursday morning. The agency joined the search with a helicopter and a jet and continued the search Friday.
"We dropped a DMB (datum marker buoy) on Thursday and picked it up this morning. It hadn't gone very far," Lt. Junior Grade Geoffrey Deas of the Coast Guard told St. Thomas Source on Friday afternoon.
Deas said the Coast Guard had adequately covered the area without finding anything.
"There were no eyewitnesses who said he (Thomas) had gone into the water," Deas said.
The seas were one to three feet Wednesday, according to Deas, "but you never know with the swells what can happen."
In fact, there were surfers in Hull Bay on Wednesday.
Thomas was reportedly reef fishing on the Magens Bay side of Tropaco Point.
Peterborg Point, which lies on the opposite side of Magens Bay, has been the scene of many drowning incidents over the years.
When seas are high, people fishing or walking on the rocks at the end of the point have been swept off the shore and drowned in the turbulent waters.
The St. Thomas police have not issued any statements about the incident.

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