Coast Guard Searching Through Night For Missing Kayaker

FREMONT, CA — The U.S. Coast Guard is searching through the night for a man who disappeared in the Bay near Fremont Tuesday afternoon when his kayak capsized. Earlier it had been reported that he was in a canoe.

Emergency crews rescued one man and spent hours searching in the dark for the second victim, identified as Kenneth Maldanado, a 32-year-old man from San Jose, according to a fire chief with the Menlo Park Fire Protection District.

One victim was in a raft and Maldonado was in a kayak in the waters south of the Dumbarton railroad trestle when the kayak capsized and Maldanado went under.

The man in the raft used a cellphone to call for help at 4:38 p.m., telling dispatchers that Maldanado was in the water with no life vest.

An airboat was deployed, and it rescued the reporting party within 20 to 30 minutes. Maldanado was still unaccounted for at sunset, however. "We hope it's going to end well, but any time nightfall hits when
you've got someone in the water with no floatation, it's hard to say," Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman said. "We hope for the best."

Aircraft were deployed by the Coast Guard and the California Highway Patrol. Menlo Park firefighters and the Fremont Fire Department both used drones to search the shoreline. Firefighters from Redwood City, San Jose, Santa Clara, Fremont and Alameda County all sent water rescue assets - and a total of 13 boats from
various agencies eventually got involved in the search, according to Schapelhouman.

"The ability to hit it hard and have so many water craft down at this end of the bay is a great example of how far we've come," Schapelhouman said. "We haven't found this guy yet and it's hard to say how it's going to
turn out, but it was a tremendous effort that we haven't seen before."

Rescuers used FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared) technology, which can pick up a heat signature - but the victim has been in the water for more than an hour and may have gotten cold.

"Best case scenario, maybe he was able to swim to shore and he's sitting someplace where we can't see him," Schapelhouman said. "It's a big bay out there."

As of 10 p.m. Maldonado had not been located when local police and fire personnel went home for the night.

According to Coast Guard Ensign Courtney Hanson, a patrol boat will remain on scene to continue the search throughout the night. A helicopter and a small boat from Station San Francisco will return first thing Wednesday morning to continue the search at first light.

— Bay City News; Image via Shutterstock