Search on for man lost in L.I. boat collision
Coast Guard ships are seen searching for a man who plunged into the sea after a catamaran struck a 35-foot recreational boat and capsized off Long Island's southern coast, Saturday, June 23, 2012. / Sophia Hall/ WCBS 880
(CBS/AP) WEST ISLIP, N.Y. - Rescuers are searching for a man who plunged into the sea after a catamaran struck a 35-foot recreational boat and capsized off Long Island's southern coast.
The two people on the catamaran were hospitalized, and the driver has been charged with boating while intoxicated. There is no word on their condition.
The crash occurred about 4:50 a.m. Saturday in the Great South Bay, just west of the Robert Moses Causeway near West Islip.
One man, only identified as a fisherman at this time, fell off the recreational fishing vessel (which had four others aboard) and disappeared. The four others were rescued safely.
"[The man] was ejected during the collision," Eric Dawson of the Coast Guard told 1010 WINS News Radio. "We're assisting Suffolk County in the search of this person in the water."
The family of the fisherman stood on the bridge above the Robert Moses Causeway throughout the morning, crying and looking up to the air to pray, reports CBS Station WCBS.
"He was a fisherman, a boater," the father-in-law of the victim told WCBS correspondent Sophia Hall. "[It's hard] being up here watching."
The wife was screaming to the rescue workers in the boats below, hollering, "Please, he is my life! He is my life! Please find him!"
The Coast Guard said that divers and an aircraft were participating in the search. Authorities are asking boaters to stay away from the area while the search is under way.
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They meant recreational fish murdering vessel, if they were out there killing fish for fun they got what they deserved then- karma.
Better plan on a new life hon, because he's gone by now.