Search for two Key West boaters and their dog suspended, the U.S. Coast Guard says

David J. Neal
·1 min read
27

The search for two Key West boaters and their dog, who have been missing for a week, has been suspended, the U.S. Coast Guard announced Tuesday morning.

Omar Millet Torres, 44, and Betsy Morales, 47, were last seen Sept. 27 on a 32-foot Carver cabin cruiser near Fury Playground in Key West Harbor, the U.S. Coast Guard said. Millet-Torres contacted Cost Guard Sector Key West watchstanders that day around 11 p.m. to say the boat was adrift after its anchor line broke.

The boat on which Betsy Morales, Omar Millet Torres and their dog were last seen.
The boat on which Betsy Morales, Omar Millet Torres and their dog were last seen.

The approach of Hurricane Ian prevented immediate rescue efforts, the Coast Guard said, but the agency said it “provided emergency instructions along with establishing a communication schedule.”

But at 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 28, two and a half hours after the first contact, Millet-Torres and Morales couldn’t be reached and a search began. A search that included the Coast Guard out of Air Stations Miami, Key West and Clearwater; the U.S. Navy; Monroe County Sheriff’s Office; and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission covered more than 15,171 square miles, the boat nor the couple could be found.

“Our sincere condolences go out to the family and friends of Omar Millet and Betsy Morales,” said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr Elizabeth Tatum, the Sector Key West search and rescue mission coordinator. “The decision to suspend a search is never easy and is only made after careful consideration of all the available facts.”

Before living in Key West, Millet-Torres had lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Morales previously had lived in Camuy, Puerto Rico.

Anyone with information on their disappearance can contact the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Key West on VHF Ch. 16 or by calling 305-292-8727.

Miami Herald Staff Writer David Goodhue contributed to this report.