Coast Guard searching for possible person in the water between Dana Point and Catalina

DATE: June 19, 2009 9:55:33 PM PDT

Coast Guard Public Affairs
Detachment Los Angeles

NEWS RELEASE

Date: June 19, 2009
Contact: Mr. Anthony Turner (310) 488-0723

Coast Guard searching for possible person in the water between Dana Point and Catalina

DANA POINT, Calif. - The Coast Guard and other rescuers are searching the waters between Dana Point and Catalina Island for a 58-year-old man believed to have gone overboard from a ferry boat earlier today, June 19.

The man, identified as Richard Kemp, 58, of Mission Viejo, was reported to have boarded the Catalina Express in Dana Point just before 8:00 a.m. this morning bound for Avalon Harbor. When the vessel arrived at Avalon Harbor there was no record of Kemp disembarking and his luggage remained unclaimed.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department first notified the Coast Guard of the situation around noon and an initial search of the area was initiated.

The Coast Guard stopped searching approximately one hour later after civil authorities notified the Coast Guard that the surveillance video from the ferry had been reviewed and indicated that a passenger matching Kemp’s description had disembarked the vessel at the dock at Avalon Harbor.

It was later determined that the image seen on the surveillance video was not the missing man and the search was resumed and is ongoing.

The Coast Guard has issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast (UMIB.) Boaters in the area are being asked to keep a sharp lookout for any signs of the man, and Orange County Sheriff’s Department asks that anyone with any information about Kemp contact them at 714-628-7170.

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