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The Coast Guard has released the name of the missing sailor who fell overboard from a sailing vessel in the North Pacific early Sunday as Luke Stinson of the United Kingdom.
The Coast Guard and U.S. Navy continue the search for Stinson, who was reportedly conscious and wearing a yellow lifejacket with a light beacon when he fell into the water almost 500 miles from land. The second crew member, Laura Beinon, did not have enough sailing experience to safely navigate the vessel alone, the Coast Guard reported.
The 38-foot sailing vessel Jonetsu was about 2,000 miles west of the Hawaiian island of Oahu and 500 miles west of the Midway Atoll at the time.
Two Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules airplane crews from Air Station Barbers Point, alternated searches from Midway Atoll and Wake Island throughout Sunday and Monday. During Sunday night, two U.S. Navy MH-60 helicopters and two CH-46 helicopters conducted six more searches of the area.
One MH-60 helicopter located the Jonetsu and conducted a basket hoist to remove Beinon and return her safely to Navy warship Peleliu with no reported injuries. The Peleliu, a Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship, was diverted from their homeward-bound transit to assist in the search. Peleliu deployed two MH-60 helicopters at approximately 5 a.m. Sunday to conduct search patterns.
Meanwhile, the sailboat is on its own on the ocean because the warship has no way to secure it. Navy crewmembers put a tracking device on the sailboat and turned on its navigation lights.
