Search efforts continue along the Galveston Bay as the Harris County Sheriff's Office Marine Unit, Galveston County Sheriff's Office, and Texas Parks and Wildlife work together following a boat crash that left two individuals missing since Friday night. According to a X update from HCSO, the accident occurred prior to the landfall of Hurricane Beryl, with the boat striking the jetties in treacherous conditions. The crash resulted in three people being hospitalized and initiated a painstaking search for the two missing boaters.
HCSO Marine Unit is out on our 44’ Safeboat today assisting Galveston County SO and Texas Parks and Wildlife continue the search for a missing boater. The boat crashed into the jetties in Galveston Bay Friday night, prior to Hurricane Beryl making landfall. pic.twitter.com/xSW0MzHQli
— Lieutenant David Jasper (@DavidBJasper) July 10, 2024
On the evening of the accident, the U.S. Coast Guard disclosed that five people were aboard the vessel when it crashed around 9:30 p.m. Although three passengers were quickly rescued and received medical treatment at the University of Texas Medical Branch Hospital, shared by Click2Houston, the remaining two were cast into the water upon the vessel's impact on the North Jetty; search efforts for them have been unceasing since then.
The situation was further complicated as recovery operations coincided with the approach of Tropical Storm Beryl. A disaster declaration was issued by Galveston County Judge Mark Henry, according to KHOU, which reported that the judge's action was in direct response to anticipated "widespread threats from wind, rain and coastal flooding" gearing up to ensure the community's safety as the storm approached, as mentioned by Hoodline.
The circumstances fueling the boat crash are still being investigated by authorities, whilst both rescue operations for the missing and precautions against the new threat from Beryl, keep emergency responders busied with urgent tasks, "Texas Equusearch and searchers found a body in the area of the crash site Saturday, but the Coast Guard can't confirm yet if the body is of one of two thrown into the water from the crash," a discovery not yet linked to the missing passengers, according to a statement obtained by KHOU.
