Tue, Oct 27, 2009
Man slips off inlet jetty; presumed dead
Search-and-rescue teams suspend mission
A 54-year-old man who slipped off a jetty and plunged into the water near Indian River Inlet remains missing, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

A multiagency search-and-rescue mission that began Sunday, Oct. 25, has been suspended.

“We review a variety of factors in each search-and-rescue case. When we determine there is no reasonable chance to find someone alive, we have to suspend the search.

“Every time we dispatch search-and-rescue crews, however, our goal is to bring them home safe,” said Petty Officer Crystalynn Kneen of Coast Guard Public Affairs, Atlantic City, N.J.

The Coast Guard received a call from Suscom at 1:30 p.m., Oct. 25. Dispatchers said a witness contacted them, saying Myungtiki Kim of Vienna, Va., slipped on the rocks of the jetty at the inlet and was knocked into the water by a wave. The witness said Kim was wearing a blue raincoat and wader boots.

“The tide in the inlet was flooding, coming in, at that point. The witness said they saw the gentleman carried into the inlet,” said Kneen. She said the tide was flooding the area with 10-knot winds, 2-foot seas and visibility of 10-nautical miles.

A rescue boat crew from Coast Guard Station Indian River, a rescue helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City, N.J., Sussex County emergency responders and TwoBoat US searched for Kim.

By 6 p.m., however, the Coast Guard and local agencies suspended their search. “Multiple agencies worked together and assisted in the search for Kim,” said Thomas Peck, a command duty officer at the Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay in Philadelphia.


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