Coast Guard opens investigation into missing CSU student
For the second night, rescue crews searched rough waters in the Gulf of Mexico for two men who went missing after jumping off a yacht Tuesday night while on spring break near St. Petersburg, Florida.
After more than 40 searches spanning hundreds of miles of open ocean, crews on Thursday hadn't found any sign of 21-year-old Colorado State University student Jie Luo or 27-year-old Andrew Dillman, who worked as the first mate on the charter boat.
While it continues to lead search efforts, the U.S. Coast Guard has also opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the two men.
"It's currently under investigation, but right now our primary focus is on our search," Coast Guard spokesman Michael De Nyse said Thursday morning.
On Tuesday, 15 college students, 14 of them CSU students, boarded the 71-foot Sea Ray vessel "Jaguar" after hiring a crew to take them onto the waters west of St. Petersburg. The waters there flow between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.
The crew anchored the boat after about 45 minutes instead of continuing to the Gulf of Mexico, and the students started talking about snorkeling in the water, according to a news release from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
Five of the students began jumping into the water. On their third trip into the water from the boat, Luo was unable to swim back to the boat. Dillman jumped in to help Luo, but the fast-moving current carried both of the men toward the Gulf of Mexico.
Todd Davis, the boat's captain, tried to throw a personal flotation device to Dillman, but the wind caught it and blew it in the opposite direction. Davis then pulled the anchor and tried to look for the swimmers, but could not find him, according to the news release. He called the Coast Guard for help.
Davis said he told the students not to jump in the water, and that they had booked the trip as a cruise and not a snorkeling expedition. Students told investigators that no one warned them about the dangerous conditions in the water, which included a riptide warning, meaning competing currents can quickly drag people out to sea.
Investigators found empty alcohol bottles on the boat, according to the news release.
Pinellas County Sheriff's Corp. Dan Di Francesco said the Coast Guard was handling the investigation, but said boats are subject to restrictions on how many people can be on board and must have proper licensing to do so.
"These students hired this company to take them out for a cruise," he said. "So the customer is assuming you have all the correct licenses, and maybe they did for all we know, but once they go out, they're under the care (of the crew)."