NEW IBERIA, La (KLFY) — An Acadiana family of missing Seacor Power crew member Dylan Daspit clings to hope as the search and rescue efforts continue.
It’s been eight days since the Seacor Power capsized off the Louisiana shore, and seven men from the crew are still missing.
One of those men is Dylan Daspit, 30, from New Iberia.
Though the coast guard ended their search, Daspit’s brother said he knows his brother is alive. He said his family needs Acadiana’s help now more than ever, however, as time runs out to find Dylan Daspit alive.
“We need people. We need planes. We need helicopters,” Garrett Daspit, Dylan’s little brother, said. The coast guard gave, up but we won’t.”
Every day, for the last eight days, Dylan’s family has hoped that each passing day would be the day they find him.
“I just feel that he’s not gone yet, and I can really, truly feel him,” Garrett said. “He’s out there, and he’s just hanging on tight. He’s one of a kind, and he can’t be gone.”
He said Thursday morning their hope they’d find Dylan alive was renewed when rescue crews told their family that a liferaft was missing from the Seacor Power.
Dylan’s family said they believe he could be on that raft, floating somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Until they present his body to me, I won’t believe he’s gone, so he has to come home,” Garrett said.
He said his brother is a fighter, and he knows he’s fighting to get back home to his family.
Garrett is just waiting for one phone call.
“If they were to make a call saying they found my brother, it would… I wouldn’t even be able to explain the feeling. It would be just… there’s no words in the vocabulary that would express my excitement,” Garrett told News Ten.
He said he believes he’ll see his brother again if they get help from anyone in Acadiana willing to offer it.
“Any help really, if there’s anything… boats, helicopters, planes, anything, anybody. We’ll front the fuel, anything they might need. We need my brother back,” he said.
Dylan’s father, Scott, said that shrimp boats would be especially helpful in the search efforts.
Garrett Daspit said if you want to help out and volunteer your time and equipment or donate any money for fuel, you can message him on Facebook.
He said you can also reach out to the United Cajun Navy.
Dylan Daspit is one of seven crew members, three of which are from Acadiana, still missing.