Paddle Boarder Reported Missing Off Atlantic Beach: Coast Guard

ATLANTIC BEACH, NY - Members of the Coast Guard are seeking a paddle boarder who went missing off Atlantic Beach on Sunday evening.

At 6:15 p.m. the Coast Guard was notified of a missing person in the water, who was identified as 41-year-old Gary Turkel.

A family member called local authorities and stated he had gone out on a paddle board near the coast of Atlantic Beach and had not returned.

A lifeguard on the beach reported that he had last seen Turkel at 3:30 p.m. on the paddle board without a life jacket.

He was last seen wearing blue shorts and a white T-shirt.

Assisting in the search are:

• A Coast Guard Station Jones Beach 47-Motor Lifeboat crew
• An Air Station Atlantic City, New Jersey MH-65 Dolphin helicopter
• The Coast Guard Cutter Bonito, an 87-foot patrol boat homeported in Montauk, New York
• An HC-144 Ocean Sentry crew from Air Station Cape Cod
• Crews Nassau County Marine Bureau and Aviation Unit 
• Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department

Anyone with any information regarding Turkel is asked to call Sector Long Island Sound at 203-468-4401.