WISCASSET, Maine — Alerted by a concerned parent, officials from the U.S. Coast Guard, Marine Marine Patrol and local police and fire departments prepared to search the Sheepscot River for a group of young people who has been missing for three hours.
As the search was about to begin in earnest, the boaters returned in the 14-foot boat they had taken for a ride on the Sheepscot River.
Wiscasset police were called by a parent who said his or her child and three other individuals left in a 14-foot Lund owned by a family friend at about 6:30 p.m., according to Sgt. Kathy Williams.
Those missing included Michael Burns, 23, and Lawrence St. Aarrant, 18, whose addresses were not listed, Emma Corwin, 21, of Wiscasset and Megan Drake, 23, of Woolwich.
The group had not returned by 10:15 p.m., conditions were foggy and the parent had been unable to reach his or her child by cellphone, Williams said.
The U.S. Coast Guard, Maine Marine Patrol, Wiscasset police and fire departments, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and the Westport Island Fire Department searched for several hours before the group returned, unharmed, to the Wiscasset waterfront at about 11:10 p.m.
“They were out joyriding,” Williams said. “With the weather, the parent didn’t think they would do something like that.”
The Maine Marine Patrol is considering charges, Marine Patrol Specialist Russell Wright said, but is still trying to determine what occurred on the boat and who was operating it.