Coast Guard Searching for Missing Miami Boater

Jan. 26, 2008 -- MIAMI - The Coast Guard is searching for a boater who disappeared from his vessel three miles east of Key Largo, Fla., Saturday afternoon.

Two good Samaritans just off Elliot Key, Fla., located a 25-foot boat with no one aboard heading toward their vessel. They managed to stop the vessel and, after going onboard, located a cellular phone. They called the last number dialed and spoke with a person claiming to be the father of the suspected missing boater, Dan Stonionis, 45.

Search and rescue coordinators at the District Seven Command Center were notified at approximately 4 p.m. of the missing boater. An HH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Miami, and rescue boat crew from Coast Guard Station Miami Beach, Fla., were launched approximately 20 minutes later to search for Stonionis.

A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission vessel, a Miami-Dade Fire Rescue boat, and a boat crew from Station Islamorada, Fla., also searched during daylight hours for Stonionis.

If anyone has any information on Stonionis' whereabouts, they are asked to call the District Seven Command Center at 305-415-6800.

Source: Coast Guard

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