PORT ARANSAS, Texas — The Nueces County Medical Examiner's Office identified 25-year-old Jared Dale Hunt as the second victim of a Port Aransas boat accident that occurred in the Corpus Christi Ship Channel on Saturday.
Hunt's body was pulled from the water after a search that spanned across multiple days by several different rescue crews.
On Monday afternoon, the ME's office released the identity of a man pronounced dead after the boat accident.
That victim was identified as 50-year-old Colin Ocker.
The U.S. Coast Guard first confirmed on Monday that a body was found in the area where the younger man went missing after the boat accident.
His body was recovered by a game warden.
The Coast Guard suspended search and rescue efforts for the missing man on Sunday morning, saying they had exhausted every possibility after searching for the missing person for more than one day and covering more than 127m square miles.
Several rescue crews helped in the search effort are listed below:
- Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi
- Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi
- Coast Guard Station Port Aransas
- Coast Guard Cutter Manta
- Texas Parks & Wildlife Department
- Aransas Pass Police Department
- Texas Department of Public Safety
- Port of Corpus Christi Police Department
- Good Samaritan boaters
According to the U.S. Coast Guard Port Aransas Chief Anthony Sofo, they were actively searching for a 24-year-old man with light brown hair and blue eyes near the ship channel. He was reported to be in the water after the crash that involved recreational vessel and a commercial tanker.
The Coast Guard confirmed one person is dead and two people were treated for non-life threatening injuries. A good Samaritan and a pilot boat recovered three people in the water, the Coast Guard said.
U.S. Coast Guard Captain Torrey Bertheau said a bystander reported the crash at 6 a.m. and at the time of the collision four men were on the boat at the intersection of Aransas Pass and the Lydia Ann Channel.
"The Coast Guard immediately took action, provided a broadcast, launched a helicopter, launched a small boat from the Station Port Aransas and took three people that were recovered from the water to Station Port Aransas," Bertheau said.
The cause of the crash continues to be investigated.
"Coast Guard investigated efforts into the serious marine incident are ongoing, so that is happening right now," Bertheau said. "At the same time, we do not know the cause but we're investigating. But our primary, top priority is search and rescue trying to locate the one individual that is unaccounted for."
The ship channel has been reopened to all intercoastal water wave traffic, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Boat recovery efforts
According to Texas Game Warden Captain Benjamin Baker, many agencies were involved following the fatal boat accident, including a local boat-towing business who worked to recover the victims' boat from the channel.
Justin Nesloney and his brother Austin, owners and operators of TowBoat U.S. Port Aransas, told 3NEWS they worked 36 hours straight in order to get the shipping channel back open which was time sensitive.
"You know we got on scene as fast as we could, I think the first priority was to make sure nobody else was still trapped inside the vessel," Justin said. "The second goal was to get the shipping channel back open."
"Obviously the Corpus Christi ship channel is the largest export of crude oil in North America, so the main goal was to get the vessel off the bottom in the middle of the channel," Austin said.
The recovery allowed for the ship channel to reopen Sunday morning
"Our hearts go out to the families, and everybody involved," Justin said. "I think they have a lot of support and I think some people are in better places, but overall safety out here is a big deal."