MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA — A 67-year-old man is dead, a 37-year-old is missing and a 65-year-old is hospitalized after a boating accident off Singing Beach in Manchester-by-the-Sea.
The Office of Essex County District Attorney Paul F. Tucker and Manchester Police Chief Mark McCoy have confirmed that, just before 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3, the U.S. Coast Guard received reports of a vessel in distress off Singing Beach. Three male passengers and one dog entered the water.
McCoy said police, as well as police and harbor crews from Essex and Beverly, were dispatched shortly after the original reports and located two men — 67 and 65 years of age — in the water and brought them to Tuck’s Point for transport to hospitals.
The oldest man was transported to Beverly Hospital but succumbed to his injuries, Tucker said, while the second man, reportedly with head injuries, was transported by Medflight from Masconomo Park to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
The 67-year-old has since died, according to the DA’s office.
As of 10 p.m. Saturday, the search was continuing for the 37-year-old.
The dog was found and is alive.
Northeast Massachusetts Emergency Alerts reported the vessel may have become entangled in lobster gear, then drifted onto rocks before catching fire.
Thermal imaging and forward-looking infrared technology is being used to search on shore and on the water for a fourth person on the boat.
McCoy said the search will go on throughout the night. He said expects the Massachusetts State Police to bring in a side-sonar unit to assist with the search Sunday.
Manchester-by-the-Sea Fire Chief James McNeilly said the main search area is about a quarter mile from shore He said it is difficult to estimate how long the missing individual could survive without knowing what kind of clothing the person is wearing or what injuries he might have sustained.
Coast Guard Station Gloucester and Air Station Cape Cod; the Boston, Salem, Beverly, Manchester-by-the-Sea and Gloucester Harbormasters; Massachusetts State Police, Gloucester Police Department, Beverly Fire Department and its dive team, and the Massachusetts Environmental Police responded.
This story will be updated at gloucestertimes.com as more information becomes available.