Search for boater turns into recovery operation

Officials are in the process of a recovery operation for a missing boater after his boat capsized in the Chesapeake Bay off Kent Island.

On Monday, officials announced the search had turned into a recovery operation because it was unlikely the missing boater identified as Silver Spring man Javier Sotelo, 32, was still alive.

Sotelo was among four others when rough conditions and strong winds caused their boat to flood and overturn Sunday in the Chesapeake Bay.

Maryland Natural Resources Police spokesperson Candy Thomson tells 47 ABC an officer was returning from patrol when he noticed the capsized boat around 5 p.m.

“Very quickly, he found two women clinging to coolers and he pulled them aboard and they told him there were three other people out in the water.” Says Thomson.

Two other men were also found and rescued, but searches for Sotelo turned up empty. Sotelo was reportedly the one operating the boat, and we’re told he could not swim.

NRP dive team leader Corporal Murry Hunt says his crew is using a side-scan sonar unit to search underwater.

“It runs about a foot to two feet under water off the bottom.” Says Corporal Hunt. “What it does, is it looks out to the side and looks for any objects that may be down there including the victim that we’re looking for.”

Corporal Hunt says the search can be difficult, because the team has a lot of ground to cover. They’re scouring an area with a half-mile radius, just north of Terrapin Park.

“Our search area can be so large and a smaller body of water with a more definitive location, it’s a lot easier.” He says. “But we are looking amongst crab pots that fisherman have and debris that,  over the years, has filled into place.”

Officials say they will not give up the search until Sotelo’s family gets closure.

None of the five victims on board were reportedly wearing life-jackets. Officials say if you do plan on going out on a boat, it’s important to always have them on hand in case of an emergency.