Coast Guard Searching For 3 Missing Fishermen After Boat Sinks Off NJ Coast

November 12, 2009 10:34 a.m. EST

Point Pleasant, NJ (AHN) - The U.S. Coast Guard is searching the waters off of New Jersey for three people lost at sea following the sinking of their fishing boat. The 44- foot Sea Tractor issued an automatic distress call Wednesday evening when it was 20 miles east of Cape May.

A four-engine C-130 Hercules turboprop military transport aircraft joined the search efforts providing additional manpower for two Coast Guard helicopters and two cutters currently engaged in search and rescue operations in the rough seas.

Chopper crews who tracked the distress signal Wednesday found an empty life raft at the boat's last known location. An electronic signal alerted Coast Guard officials that the boat had sunk at 7:44 p.m.

The Coast guard has identified the missing men they are, forty-nine-year-old Kenneth Rose Jr. who served as captain of the Sea Tractor. His 75-year-old father, Kenneth Sr., and 55-year-old Larry Forrest also were aboard the vessel that sank.

According to published reports the current weather in the search area has seas being 10 to 15 feet and winds are over 30 to 50 mph. Visibility is listed from two to three miles.

The nor'easter, with strong winds and unrelenting rain is making its way across the mid-Atlantic coast. The storm system is comprised of the remnants of Hurricane Ida, the ninth tropical storm and third hurricane of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season.