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The search for missing fisherman Kon Wai Young is scheduled to continue this morning, two days after he was reported missing off Oahu’s South Shore.
Young, 53, reportedly went fishing Saturday morning on a 19-foot V-hull boat launched from the Maunalua Bay boat ramp in Hawaii Kai. When he failed to return at sunset, family members searched the boat ramp area, found his vehicle and boat trailer, and reported him missing.
Coast Guard and Hono-lulu Fire Department rescue personnel responded with an extensive search involving the 110-foot Coast Guard cutter Kiska, a Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and an HFD helicopter.
Two HC-130 Hercules patrol airplanes from Air Station Barbers Point joined the search Sunday.
The Coast Guard said it is using the Search and Rescue Optimal Planning System, a computer program that takes into account factors such as winds and currents to determine the best search area. One of the Hercules crews dropped a data-marker buoy to help coordinate search patterns.
As of early Sunday evening, Coast Guard personnel had covered some 2,700 square miles from Hawaii Kai to Barbers Point without any sign of Young or his vessel. HFD’s helicopter covered the area between Black Point and Maunalua Bay.
The Kiska continued the search overnight. The air search was scheduled to resume at first light this morning.
Fishermen and personal watercraft riders at Maunalua Bay Beach Park Sunday said they saw rescue personnel in the area early in the morning. They expressed dismay that a fellow ocean user had gone missing without a trace.
