Hope Remains For 2 Men Missing Near Pass-A-Grille: Sheriff

ST. PETE BEACH, FL — As the U.S. Coast Guard, Pinellas County Sheriff's Office and others continue their search for two men who went missing in Pass-A-Grille Channel waters Tuesday evening, more details related to their disappearance have been released.

According to the sheriff’s office, 15 students from Colorado State University were on board the Jaguar, a 71-foot charter boat, off of Shell Key around 6 p.m. March 14. The boat was chartered for a four-hour cruise, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said during a Wednesday afternoon press conference. Charter Capt. Todd Davis made the decision not to take the boat out into open Gulf of Mexico waters because of hazardous conditions and anchored the vessel in the channel area instead, Gualtieri said.

At that point, five male students decided to go swimming off the side of the boat while it was anchored. Davis told authorities he advised the men not to go because it was too rough.

The five, however, decided to jump off and swim back to the vessel several times. On the third, one of the men had trouble swimming back.

“Only four were able to swim back to the vessel,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a Wednesday morning email to media. As the charter boat’s captain tried to help four of the swimmers back onto the vessel, a charter mate jumped in the water to help the fifth student, the sheriff’s office said.

Davis told authorities he pulled anchor and tried to rescue the men. The current, however, pulled them away. An attempt to throw flotation devices out to the two, resulted in the wind pulling those devices in the other direction, Gualtieri said.

"The last anybody saw them, they were being pulled out into the Gulf," the sheriff's said.

The men have been identified as Andrew Dillman, 27, from New York, and Jie Lou, 21, from China.

The coast guard reported Wednesday afternoon that it and partner agencies had conducted 22 searches, covering 419 square miles as of noon on March 15.

Gualtieri said the search for the men remains active.

"Experience tells us, we need to keep this going," he said. "It's still possible they are alive. That's how we're proceeding at this point. That's the right thing to do."

"Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Andrew and Jie during this difficult time," said Lt. Jason Holstead, the command duty officer at Sector St. Petersburg. "We continue work closely with our partners to search for Andrew and Jie, all of us have them and their family in our thoughts and prayers."

A small craft advisory and rip current warning were both in effect on Tuesday. Conditions remained largely the same on Wednesday as the search continues.

The events that occurred onboard the Jaguar remain under investigation by the sheriff's office and coast guard, Gualtieri said. Officials noted that those on the boat at the time of the incident had been drinking. There is no indication, Gualtieri added, that Davis or his crew were intoxicated.

No further information is available at this time.

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard