HARAHAN, La. — The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended their search of the river near the Huey P. Long Bridge after a barge worker went missing in the river Saturday evening.
Coast Guard Sector New Orleans watchstanders received a call at approximately 3 a.m. Saturday from the National Maintenance & Repair of Louisiana Inc., saying a worker, Darrell Roberson, went missing in the water.
Roberson had reportedly been working on a barge in the Mississippi River near the bridge.
Coast Guard watchstanders issued an urgent marine information broadcast and launched a Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew and a Coast Guard Station New Orleans 29-foot Response Boat crew to search.
The Coast Guard says rescue crews searched more than 20 miles downriver and a combined 164 square nautical miles for approximately 10 hours before making the difficult decision to suspend the search.
“The decision to suspend a search-and-rescue case is never an easy one to make,” said Lt. Cmdr. Ben Walsh, Sector New Orleans enforcement division chief. “We offer our deepest sympathies to the family during this difficult time.”
The Coast Guard did not say how the man went missing or why the search was suspended on Sunday.
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