The Coast Guard is suspending the search for a missing tugboat captain whose ship capsized in the Mississippi River Monday night.
According to the US Coast Guard, crews searched about 158 square-nautical miles for 18 hours, but were unable to find the missing captain, identified by law enforcement sources as David Mills.
"The decision to suspend a search is never easy," said Cmdr. Michael Wolfe, a search and rescue mission coordinator at Coast Guard Sector New Orleans. "We saturated the search area with search crews but, unfortunately, were unable to locate the missing person.”
The 54-foot vessel Seattle Slew capsized near Myrtle Grove Fleet north of Point A La Hache around 8:12 p.m. with three people onboard.
Law enforcement sources tell Eyewitness News that two crew members jumped overboard and were rescued. They were both taken to University Medical Center and are in good condition.
A spokesperson for the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff's Office tells Eyewitness News that the vessel left from Turn Services on the West Bank and was trying to move an empty barge when it started to take on water.
The cause of the capsizing is still under investigation.
Stay with Eyewitness News on WWL-TV and WWLTV.com for more on this developing story.