Fall River Harbormaster details team effort as search for missing boater resumes Tuesday

As a possible lead turned up empty Monday evening, a group effort continues the search for missing boater Marc Hanoud.

Fall River Harbormaster Bob Smith issued a detailed look late Monday into the search effort.

“The search for the missing boater from the accident on Saturday continues. Today we started as soon as the sun came up a little after 6:00 a.m. and finished about 8:30 p.m. The response from outside agencies has been overwhelming and we can’t thank them enough. These people are going way above and beyond their jobs to provide closure to the family of the missing victim. Today on the search site, besides the F.R. Harbormaster boats, we had the Fall River Harbor Patrol, Bristol Fire Dept., Massachusetts State police divers and air wing unit (helicopter), Tiverton Harbormaster, many private volunteers that have boats with side scan sonar, and many concerned boat owners, and friends and family of the missing person that just want to help. Last but not least we had the fantastic services of the SEMLEC dive team. SEMLEC is an incredible group of police officers that provide specialized manpower to any community that needs help. These guys showed up with a dive boat, about 7 divers, and a trailer full of dive gear and underwater cameras. The SEMLEC guys sent divers down every time one of the sonar boats got a “hit” on the sonar. There were times when they would have 4 divers in the water at once, all communicating with each other. They also had a crew operating an underwater camera from the F.R. Harbor Patrol boat. They did grid searches all day. We can’t thank SEMLEC enough because without them we could not have checked out anything below the surface.”

“Tomorrow (Tuesday) we start again at 6:00 a.m. We will have help from the MA State Police divers and the MA Environmental Police. The Harbormasters and Harbor Patrol from the FRPD will be out, as well as all the volunteers that are helping with this effort. I’m sure that other agencies will be sending help also. The help you all provide is truly appreciated by the Harbormaster Department, and more importantly, by the family.”

“Hopefully tomorrow will bring some closure to this family.”