New Orleans – The first call for help came from a good Samaritan, at about 8:30 Wednesday morning, May 2.
Two men were on the beach at Southwest Pass: one had survived a boating accident, the other one had drowned. And a third man was missing.
According the U.S. Coast Guard, all three men were on board a 27-foot aluminum recreational boat that apparently capsized.
In spite of an all-day search, which included the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office and the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the third man has not been found. The Coast Guard suspended the search for the night and Wildlife and Fisheries agents will continue it on Thursday.
Lt. Chaun Domingue, Public Information Officer for the Sheriff’s office, released the names of the three men.
The survivor is 61-year old Patrick Anderson of Baton Rouge. The man who drowned was 96-year old John Frey of Magnolia, Texas. And the missing man is 85-year old Rev. Donald Tabb, a Baton Rouge minister.
WBRZ-TV in Baton Rouge reports that Tabb is a founding member of Baton Rouge’s Dunham School and The Chapel on Campus, a church at LSU.
According to Lt. Domingue, the boat was “completely submerged,” and although investigators believe it was an accident, Sheriff’s deputies will investigate to “assure foul play was not involved.”