Search for Lowell man lost at sea suspended by Coast Guard
SALISBURY — A Coast Guard crew had a capsized boater in sight Tuesday night and was close to pulling him to safety when a massive wave slammed into their boat, and the man disappeared.
The search for the missing man — 44-year-old Chhoeun Chhoun of Lowell — was suspended yesterday at the choppy mouth of the Merrimack River, where the boat capsized Tuesday afternoon. Chhoun’s companion Pen Sok, also of Lowell, was safely hauled up on a jetty shortly after the mishap when the overturned boat washed up.
The Coasties from Station Merrimack River in Newburyport were “very close” to rescuing Chhoun when their 47-foot motor lifeboat was “completely rocked” by an 8- to 10-foot wave, and Chhoun vanished, Petty Officer Andrew Barresi said.
“They were able to see him and made the approach to try and pick him up,” Barresi said. “From my understanding, they were very close to getting the person on board.”
It was unclear to Barresi whether the crew got close enough to get hands on the man before he was lost. But the event no doubt hit the crew hard, he said.
“I can’t speak for exactly what the crew is feeling like, but every time we go out, the goal is to save all the lives” that are endangered, Barresi said.
Salisbury officers were alerted minutes after 5:30 p.m. by a camper who had seen the 18- to 20-foot boat go out to sea, turn back and then capsize on the north side of a jetty near the mouth of the river, about 150 yards from the beach, police said.
Officer Patrick Szymkowski said he could see two men — later identified as Chhoun, the boat’s driver, and Sok, his passenger — holding onto the boat, one at the bow, the other at the stern.
As Szymkowski and officer Craig Goodrich grabbed a flotation device and began to make their way out on the jetty on foot, the capsized boat and the men holding onto it were slammed into the rocks and became separated, Szymkowski said. He said he saw the Coast Guard crew throw a line to Chhoun and begin to pull him in before he was lost.
The officers, meanwhile, found Sok in the area of the overturned boat and pulled him to the top of the jetty, Szymkowski said.
“The conditions were the worst I’ve seen,” said Salisbury Harbor Master Ray Pike, who was in one of five vessels from his town, Newburyport and the Coast Guard attempting to rescue Chhoun. “We were all rocking and rolling. You want to save human life, but it’s hard to put five boats at risk in those situations. The saddest thing is they weren’t wearing life jackets.”