PLEASANT POINT, Maine — Emergency responders continued searching Sunday evening for one of three people who were in a canoe that capsized Sunday afternoon in Cobscook Bay, according to a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman.
Two of the people in the canoe made it safely back to shore after the canoe capsized around noon, Chief Michael Faivre, command duty officer for the Coast Guard’s Sector Northern New England, said Sunday evening. He said the incident happened in Half Moon Cove and was reported around 12:22 p.m.
Faivre did not identify who was in the canoe when it tipped over and said he did not have medical information about the two people who made it to shore.
“One is unaccounted for and search efforts are continuing,” Faivre said.
According to a separate Coast Guard statement released Sunday evening, the missing person is a 23-year-old man.
Faivre said Coast Guard personnel were searching with a 29-foot-long boat based in Eastport and with a plane and a helicopter based at Cape Cod. The Coast Guard plane returned to Cape Cod as darkness fell but other personnel remained in the area.
Maine Marine Patrol has been assisting with the water search while the Pleasant Point Police Department and Perry Fire Department have been searching along the shore, Faivre said. Low tide in the area was shortly before 1:30 p.m., according to information posted at USharbors.com.
“We have excellent partnerships with both state and local agencies in Maine,” Lt. John O. Mansolillo, command duty officer at the Coast Guard First District command center, said in the prepared statement. “Combined and coordinated, we were able to search the entire cove and its perimeter before nightfall.”
According to the National Weather Service, conditions are expected to worsen Sunday evening and could result in as much as 5 inches of snow in parts of Washington County by midday Monday.
