1 missing after boat takes on water in North Myrtle Beach. Crowd gathers to await news.
A small crowd gathered Friday afternoon at the T. Craig Campbell Boating Facility in Little River awaiting news on a search and rescue operation for a missing boater.
Crews from multiple agencies are assisting in a search to find 23-year-old Tyler Doyle, of Loris. He was identified as the missing boater by friends and family on Facebook.
At the boat landing, friends, family and rescue teams hugged and cried, and shared food with each other.
North Myrtle Beach Police Chaplain Jay Ortiz was present, and said he had come to show support for the family despite it being outside of his jurisdiction.
“It’s a tough time,” Ortiz said.
Trey Suggs, a friend of Tyler, came on his day off to help with the search and be present. He said that Tyler and him had grown up together, and that Tyler was a fan of dirt racing.
According to a boater on the scene, there were at least two helicopters, three U.S. Coast Guard vessels, an Horry County Police Department boat and about a dozen other boats searching over a wide area outside of the Little River inlet jetties.
The U.S. Coast Guard said Doyle was last seen wearing a camo jacket and khaki pants while duck hunting on a 16-foot jon boat.
A jon boat is a small open flat-bottomed boat used primarily in shallow marshy areas.
Crews responded Thursday evening to a watercraft in distress call with two people on board in North Myrtle Beach, according to Horry County Fire Rescue.
North Myrtle Beach Rescue Squad, who assisted at the scene said that one person was found and rescued from the north jetties, after the vessel started taking on water. Rescue crews resumed their search Friday morning.
Horry County Fire Rescue spokesperson Anthony Casey would not confirm Friday the condition of the person rescued.
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The Horry County Fire Rescue marine team, alongside the North Myrtle Beach Rescue Squad and the U.S. Coast Guard, are assisting in a search and rescue this morning for any other missing occupants.
Anyone with information is being asked to call the U.S. Coast Guard at 305-415-6800.
