BOSTON, Mass. -- The U.S. Coast Guard has confirmed that one of two Middletown missing boaters has been found alive.
Nathan Carman was found Sunday drifting at sea by a freighter. He was in good condition and was coming back to an undisclosed port. There was no information about the whereabouts of his mother, Linda.
The Coast Guard in Boston says Nathan Carman was found by a freighter on Sunday about 100 nautical miles south of Martha's Vineyard.
“Good to go,” Coast Guard representatives in Boston said. He was not suffering from life threatening injuries, which is why he’s staying on the freighter.
He was found on a four person inflatable life raft that is required safety equipment
The family has been notified.
Saturday night, friends held a vigil for the Carman's at Linda's home.
For about a week, the Coast Guard searched roughly 60,000 square miles for Linda Carman and her son Nathan.
Last Sunday at 6:30 p.m., the Coast Guard got a report that Linda Carman, 54, and her son Nathan, 22, both from Middletown, Connecticut, didn't return from an offshore fishing trip. They were due back Sunday at 9 a.m., a friend of Linda's said.
Nathan now lives in Vermont, but grew up in Middletown. They left from Ram's Point Marina in Point Judith, Rhode Island on Saturday evening. According to Monte Montegrio, a friend of Linda's who also lives with her, Linda and Nathan frequently meet up to go fishing since Nathan moved out, and the pair are very experienced fishers. They've traveled as far as Alaska for fishing trips in the past.
Nathan has Aspberger's syndrome and previously went missing in 2011 after the loss of his beloved horse. He was found in Virginia a few days later and was unharmed.
After that incident, Gov. Dan Malloy declared August 23 "Missing Persons Day" in the state to support families of those who have disappeared. The day was in honor of Nathan, as well as Isabella Oleschuck, another person who went missing but was found safe in 2011. The Office of the Victim Advocate said the day is intended to remind people that you do not have to wait 24 hours to file a missing persons report.
