Missing boaters from Bradenton's Manatee River found safe near Venice, family says
MANATEE -- Two boaters have turned up safe near Venice after they went missing on the Manatee River near Bradenton.
According to the Coast Guard, the boaters are Thomas Batten, 33, from St. Petersburg and Ryan Killoran, 27, from Bradenton. At 8:45 a.m. Monday, more than eight hours after they were reported missing, they contacted family members in Bradenton.
Relatives said the men had run out of gas, stranded their boat on an island near Venice, and spent the night there. Their cell phones had apparently gone dead as well.
The men originally were reported missing at 12:10 a.m., when watchstanders from Coast Guard Station Cortez received a phone call from Killoran's friend reporting the men had failed to return from a fishing trip. The men left the Warner's Bayou Boat Ramp on 59th Street in Bradenton at sunrise to fish in the Manatee
River for tarpon.
They were last seen at 6 p.m., when they returned to the boat ramp to drop off Killoran's fiancee, stating they would fish for two more hours. They never returned.
A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Clearwater and a 29-foot Response Boat Small-II boat crew from Station Cortez were launched to conduct the search, said Petty Officer 2nd Class Ashley J. Johnson, public information officer.
"We've completely saturated the Manatee River," Johnson said. They searched all the way to Anna Maria Island before anyone heard from the men.
The men had been tarpon-fishing and lost track of time, said Shelly Killoran, Ryan's mother. They realized too late that they had run out of gas, she said. Ryan's fiancee received a call Monday morning that they were OK.
Crew members from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Manatee County Sheriff's Office and Bradenton Police Department aided in the search.
This story was originally published May 2, 2016 at 11:30 PM with the headline "Missing boaters from Bradenton's Manatee River found safe near Venice, family says ."