Man missing after boat breaks apart

The Island County Sheriff’s Office has released the name of a sailor who disappeared after a boat accident in Crescent Harbor Saturday afternoon.

The Island County Sheriff’s Office has released the name of a sailor who disappeared after a boat accident in Crescent Harbor Saturday afternoon.

Detective Ed Wallace said 33-year-old Keiyia Jones was last seen trying to swim to shore.

Jones and the 24-year-old woman who was with him on the boat were both active-duty members of the Navy, according to the sheriff’s office.

Wallace said that Jones and the woman were crabbing in Crescent Harbor in a small boat when it started taking on water. It eventually broke apart and sank.

Neither occupant was wearing a lifejacket.

They both began swimming for the shore. The woman made it but Jones did not, according to Wallace.

The woman told investigators that she quickly became numb while swimming and was barely able to make it to shore. She tried to coax Jones along as they swam, Wallace said, but lost sight of him.

The Coast Guard boat crew from Station Seattle and crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Sea Lion searched for six hours. An aircrew aboard a Seahawk helicopter from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station also joined the search, along with responders from the Island County Sheriff’s Office and local fire departments.

The Coast Guard search was called off at 10 p.m. on Saturday.

Island County Sheriff Mark Brown said his office continued searching the water and the shore over the next couple of days, but searchers were unable to find anything.