Coast Guard suspends search for missing father and son near Port Lavaca | Local news

The U.S. Coast Guard on Sunday called off the search for a father and son missing off Magnolia Beach. The Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office said the search has now become a recovery mission.

“When we send out our rescue teams, we always do so with the fervent hope that we can bring everyone home safely,” Homar Barrera said in a press release. “Unfortunately, after considering all relevant factors, we have made the difficult decision to end our search today.”

Barrera is a search and rescue mission coordinator in the Coast Guard’s Corpus Christi area.

After 21 hours, the Coast Guard called off its search for father and son at 7:55 a.m. Sunday. Coast Guard crews covered approximately 77 square miles in the search for them.

While the Coast Guard has suspended its search, a local nonprofit called Hunter Hadley’s Quest was still searching for father and son. Hunter Hadley’s Quest is a community emergency response team.

The boat they were on is currently 30 feet deep in Lavaca Bay. As of Sunday evening, authorities believed the boat took on water during Saturday morning’s storm and sank. Calhoun County Sheriff’s officials fear the father and son may be trapped in the boat’s cabin.

On Saturday, the Coast Guard received a call about a boat that had long been expected near Port Lavaca. Father Benedicto Jaramillo, 50, and son Angel Alejandro Jaramillo, 15, both of Bloomington, have been missing since Sunday evening.

Priscilla Jaramillo, mother and wife of the father and son, reported them missing after a 40-foot crab fishing vessel named My Possum was long overdue. The father and son had left at 5 a.m. to catch crabs off Magnolia Beach, according to a Coast Guard news release Saturday. They were expected to return around 10:30 a.m.

Benedicto is about 1.80 m tall and weighs between 72 and 82 kg. Father and son were probably both wearing green waders.

After the Coast Guard was called, an urgent distress call was sent. An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Coast Guard Air Force Base Corpus Christi and a 29-foot small response boat from Coast Guard Station Port O’Connor were dispatched.

A fireboat crew arrived and reported a capsized vessel matching the description of the shrimp boat in the Matagorda Ship Channel off Magnolia Beach.

Multiple agencies were involved in the search, including search crews from the Coast Guard Station in Corpus Christi, the Coast Guard Airfield in Corpus Christi, the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety.