Coast Guard Search Expands for Missing Paddleboarder in Florida

The US Coast Guard is asking for the public’s help in finding a 29-year-old paddleboarder from Miami who has been reported missing.

The Coast Guard released a flyer on Tuesday with a picture of the missing man, who is only identified by his first name, Luciano.

They say he was last seen Monday spearfishing on an aqua and orange paddleboard. He reportedly left Cape Florida at 5:15 p.m. on Pines Canel in Key Biscayne, Florida. The Coast Guard continues searching for Luciano using air and surface crews.

Luciano has short brown hair, a trimmed beard and mustache, and brown eyes. He wore a light gray long-sleeved “Reef Cheefs” rash guard shirt with gray shorts upon his disappearance.

He is listed at 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs about 200 pounds. His Facebook page includes pictures of him spearfishing, paddleboarding, and diving underwater. Luciano also lists himself vice president of a general contractor construction and development business in Key Biscayne.

“If you are heading out on the water or flying over the water, please be vigilant,” the Coast Guard said in a news release. “This request extends to anyone in the waterways off the coast of Miami, South Miami, the Florida Keys, and even as far as Bimini and the Bahamas.”

Anyone with information about Luciano’s disappearance or whereabouts is asked to call the Key Biscayne Police Department at (305) 365-5555 and the U.S. Coast Guard at (305) 535-4300 or (786) 316-1074.

On Friday, three Alabama men, Harold Denzel Hunter, 25, Jemonda Ray, 24, and Marius Richardson, 24, drowned after getting caught in a rip current during an evening swim at a Florida panhandle beach. The Coast Guard responded to a distress call on Saturday around 8 a.m. and while they were able to find the men, they all died upon arriving at the hospital.

In an unrelated accident, a Pennsylvania couple, Brian Warter, 51, and Erica Wishard, 48, drowned on Thursday while swimming off Hutchinson Island on Florida’s southeast coast. They were vacationing with their six kids, two of which are teenagers, and were also caught in the current. The teens were able to escape the current but were unsuccessful in saving their parents.

Martin County Ocean Rescue claimed they performed life-saving measures on the couple, but the Warter and Wishard were pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Understanding the dangers of rip currents is crucial for beachgoers. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says rip current can reach speeds up to eight feet per second.

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