Coast Guard calls off search for missing shrimper whose empty boat was found off MS Coast
Editor’s note: The body of Missing shrimper Richard Kopszywa was found Tuesday morning.
The Coast Guard ended a two-day search Monday night for a missing shrimper whose empty boat authorities found five miles off the coast of Biloxi.
The Coast Guard’s planes, helicopters and boats found no sign of the 75-year-old man after they searched 1,032 square nautical miles over 37 hours.
Crews began searching just after 11 a.m. Sunday. The man’s wife called to report her husband goes shrimping for days at a time but checks in each morning, said William Winston, an ensign at the Sector Mobile Public Affairs Office. On Sunday, Winston said, “he didn’t check in when she anticipated that he would.”
Winston said Monday that the decision to call off a search depends on several factors, including temperature, weather and state of the sea.
