Port Aransas South Jetty

Coast Guard search ends in uncertainty

The Coast Guard searched Port Aransas waters without success after receiving a report that a man had jumped off Horace Caldwell Pier on Wednesday, June 10.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Randy Hale said a fisherman on the pier reported seeing a man jump off the pier about 11 p.m. and start swimming toward the beach. The angler didn’t see the man reach shore, so the Coast Guard started a search, said Hale, of the Coast Guard Command Center in Corpus Christi.

The Coast Guard searched the area with a boat, two helicopters and a plane. The search was suspended at noon Friday, June 12.

After the search ended, Coast Guard officials remained uncertain whether the man actually was lost at sea. The fisherman didn’t know the man, and no one was reported missing, Hale said. Everyone who had cars at the pier on the night of June 10 was accounted for, he said.

Seas were fairly rough, and the water temperature was about 84 degrees when the pier jump was reported, Hale said.

It’s possible that the jumper reached shore on his own and walked away without authorities locating him, said Lt. Armell Balmaceda of the Coast Guard Command Center.