VERO BEACH, Fla. — The Coast Guard is still out searching for a missing 68-year-old boater from Vero Beach.
Dale Hossfield was last seen leaving out the Fort Pierce inlet Wednesday, but his boat ran ashore hours later in Melbourne Beach without him aboard.
Because Hossfield's boat ran ashore with the motors still running, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was able to take the GPS off of his boat to see where he had been traveling.
This helped the Coast Guard see that he was near shore but and also 30 miles offshore.
The Coast Guard said Friday they have covered about 1,500 square miles of open sea during their search for Hossfield.
At this point, they assume he might have fallen off the boat but believe that might have happened closer to shore.
They are still searching by air and on the water with the help of FWC and the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.
"We look for reasons to continue to search. So, speaking to family members, Mr. Hossfield is a strong swimmer. He's been on boats for 35 years," Lt. Commander Daniel Delgado, Coast Guard sector Miami search and rescue mission coordinator, said. "Where we think he might have gone in the water was relatively close to shore. ... There's life jackets on the boat. [We are] looking for reasons to search, [which] is why we’re going to continue our search efforts.”
Delgado said there are plenty of cases where people have lived in the water for days, so they say they will keep searching to give Hossfield every possible chance to be found.