Coast Guard Searching for missing North Carolina man off coast of Myrtle Beach, S.C.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - Coast Guard rescue crews are searching for a missing boater approximately 11-miles southeast of Myrtle Beach Friday.

Missing is Thomas "Andy" Richmond of Ocean Isle Beach, N.C.

Coast Guard Sector Charleston, S.C., search-and-rescue coordinators received a call at 11:20 p.m. Thursday that the unmanned 28ft boat "Heads or Tails" was located on the beach with its engines running. The boat belonged Richmond.

The Coast Guard launched a MH-65 rescue helicopter crew from Air Facility Charleston and a rescue boat crew from Coast Guard Station Georgetown, S.C.

In addition, the 87-foot Coast Guard Cutter Yellowfin, homeported in Charleston, and the 140-foot Coast Guard Cutter Thunder Bay, homeported in Rockland, Maine, are also assisting in the search.

The Coast Guard is asking that anybody with information about or the whereabouts of Richmond, please contact the Coast Guard command center in Charleston at 843-740-7050.

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