Search for Missing Crewman off Louisiana Coast Suspended

Last week, the U.S. Coast Guard was called upon to search for an Indian crewman reported missing from a tanker that was anchored just a few miles south of Southwest Pass in Louisiana.

Last Tuesday morning, January 7, the Watchstanders at the New Orleans Coast Guard Sector were notified by persons on the Hong Kong-flagged Rainbow Quest that Mr. Ram Mohan Singh had gone missing.

Crew members reported the incident after Singh failed to report for the crew’s 8:00am muster. The crew conducted sweeps of the vessel with no result, and no life jackets were missing from the ship. Singh was last seen on Monday at approximately 9:00pm wearing an orange jumpsuit.

The Coast Guard dispatched an MH-65D Dolphin from an air station in Belle Chasse and a 45-foot response boat from Venice. They proceeded to conduct a thorough, 1,179-square-mile search around the area where the tanker was anchored. They also dispatched an HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane from Mobile, Alabama, and an 87-foot cutter (The Pelican) from Abbeville.

After 44 hours of searching by both air and surface with no positive result, the U.S. Coast Guard suspended the search for Singh, pending further developments.