Man dies in surf on Copalis Beach

Published 5:00 pm Sunday, June 16, 2013

COPALIS?BEACH, Wash. The body of 65-year-old surf fisherman washed up dead on Copalis Beach in Grays County, Wash., Sunday evening.

Interviews with family members of Antonio D. Inocencio sparked a search for a second man who they thought might have been surf fishing with him.

But KBKW Radio of Grays Harbor reported later Monday that the second man did not go on the trip. He was at home, waiting for a phone call, because he had mixed up the dates.

The body washed up 1.5 miles south of the Roosevelt Beach Approach near Pacific Beach State Park, said Pimentel, and was found and reported by a beachcomber.

Witnesses saw him in the surf prior to going under, said Undersheriff David Pimentel of the Grays County Sheriffs Department, adding that the man was surf casting in high waders.

Interviews with the family of Inocencio, of Federal Way, Wash., had led the sheriffs department to believe he went out with another man.

The U.S. Coast Guard launched air crews from Air Station Astoria and rescue boat crews from Station Grays Harbor, in Westport, Wash. They joined personnel from the sheriffs department and conducted multiple search patterns, going three miles into the ocean and 8.5 miles from north to south, for more than 10 hours.

The Coast Guard suspended its search at approximately 7:45 a.m. today after saturating the search area. 

The Coast Guard can resume a search if credible information is received that the person reported missing has survived. 

Marketplace