HAVRE DE GRACE, MD — As the search for missing 18-year-old Havre de Grace boater Mark Everett Coates III continues, the United Cajun Navy has joined the search.
Fourteen agencies have been searching along the Susquehanna River since Nov. 5 for Coates after his 10-foot aluminum jon boat was found overturned near Garrett Island. The search has included vessel patrols, dive teams and aerial searches using helicopters and drones, Patch reported previously.
Coates launched his boat last Wednesday around 5 p.m. at the Water Street Boat Ramp. The jon boat was found capsized early Thursday morning. Coates was last seen wearing a chartreuse long-sleeved T-shirt and blue jeans.
The United Cajun Navy, a nonprofit focused on disaster response, search and rescue, and humanitarian aide, has teamed up with the Maryland Natural Resources Police. On Tuesday, the NRP said the search had been scaled back to just their crew.
On Wednesday, authorities announced the United Cajun Navy had arrived to help.
"Put together a quick little action plan and reached out to our Maryland point of contact, and started requesting volunteer resources – boats, sonar, drones, boots on the ground, all that stuff," United Cajun Navy Commander Josh Gill told CBS News.
Officials have not yet called their efforts a recovery mission.
"There's a couple spots we're interested in, and these are some spots that my meteorologist, as well as a local, ran some stuff through AI. Obviously, down here around what they call the flat and then the point of the island and around," Gill said. "And then what we'll do is coordinate with the state throughout the day, and if we have any changes on potential target areas, we'll go investigate those."
Anyone with information relevant to the investigation is asked to call Maryland Natural Resources Police at 410-260-8888.
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