Search continues for missing mariners off Midway Island

The Coast Guard, Navy, and good Samaritans in coordination with Rescue Coordination Center Taipei continue the search for the 10 crewmembers of the Yong-Yu-Sing No. 18 550-miles northeast of Midway Island, Friday.

Two Air Station Barbers Point HC-130 Hercules and one Navy P-8 Poseidon aircrews are scheduled to search the area today. Good Samaritans aboard four fishing vessels are also nearing the search area.

“Partnerships are key when it comes to challenging long range search and rescue cases like this,” said Cmdr. Scott Higbee, a Joint Rescue Coordination Center Honolulu search and rescue mission coordinator. “With the help of our international partners and the Navy we have been able to sustain daily searches and are able to cover a much larger area than if we were relying on Coast Guard crews alone. This is especially important in the Pacific where the search zone may be thousands of miles from first responders.”

The partners have been searching for the crew since Dec. 31, 2020. An Air Station Barbers Point HC-130 aircrew located the adrift Yong-Yu-Sing No. 18, Jan. 1, with a missing life raft and no signs of the 10 crewmembers.

The weather conditions on scene are winds of 12 mph and seas up to 13 feet.