Coast Guard Searching For Missing Boater Off NJ

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (CBS/AP) — Coast Guard crews are searching for a missing boater off the southern New Jersey coast.

The missing boater is identified as 32-year-old David McAuliffe.

The search started just before 11 a.m. on Tuesday, when the Coast Guard received a distress alert from an emergency radio beacon.

Authorities say McAuliffe was the only person aboard the 45-foot Sea Tow boat Cape Hatteras, which departed Absecon Inlet around 7:45 a.m. The boat's owner says it was en route to Great Egg Harbor.

When the boater did not respond to cell phone or radio calls, an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City and a 47-foot Motor Life Boat crew from Coast Guard Station Atlantic City responded to the scene.

The crew of the 87-foot Coast Guard Cutter Finback, homeported in Cape May, and members from several local shoreline police departments as well as the New Jersey State Police are also searching for McAuliffe.

It was reported Cape Hatteras had survival equipment aboard, including two survival suits and two life rafts.

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