The Coast Guard has suspended its search for a missing 51-year-old fisherman who is presumed dead after his boat capsized in the waters off Queens Sunday, killing three of his friends.
The search was ended for Bronx resident Vernon Glasford at 6 p.m. Monday, with his body still missing. Glasford was on the 30-foot Grady-White boat fishing boat when it began to take on water near Breezy Point near the entrance to the Ambrose Channel around noon Sunday.
“The decision to suspend a search is always difficult,” said Capt. Jonathan Andrechik, the Coast Guard Sector New York commander. “Though our active search has ended, our support and sympathy remain with all those impacted by this tragic incident.”
Six men were on the boat when it unexpectedly capsized, officials said. Two men survived, three died and Glasford was unaccounted for.
Coast Guard crews responding to the capsized boat scoured 842 square miles during a 30-hour search, Coast Guard officials said. The search involved vessels of different sizes, helicopters, and small planes.
Survivor Sewchand Maniram, 62, was captaining the boat when it began to take on water, his grandson told the Daily News Monday.
“One of the guys was feeling seasick so my grandfather took over driving to go back,” said Sachin Latchman, 18. “There were a lot of waves and it seemed unnatural to my grandfather because he owned a boat too.”
The men looked back and noticed the engine was already under water, according to Latchman.
“That’s when it flipped,” he said. “It happened all of a sudden. My grandfather climbed onto the bottom of the (upside down) boat.”
The boat, which departed from a dock on Cross Bay Blvd. near 162nd Ave. in Howard Beach, began its trip on the Shellbank Basin, a narrow inlet leading to Jamaica Bay.
The NYPD, FDNY, and New Jersey State Police assisted the Coast Guard in its search. A Coast Guard boat crew recovered three people from the capsized boat and rushed them to Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, N.J., for treatment.
A helicopter rescue crew dispatched from Atlantic City recovered one victim and an NYPD aviation crew found another within a few hours.
Glasford was wearing a gray hoodie, blue jeans and black boots when the boat capsized.
“He went fishing Sunday and he didn’t come home,” said Jenel Bobb, who lives in the same building as her brother in the University Heights neighborhood of the Bronx.
“He didn’t come home. He didn’t call. We called and called and he didn’t pick up,” said Bobb. “It didn’t add up. And then the Coast Guard called.”