CRYSTAL RIVER, Fla. —
The U.S. Coast Guard continued to search Thursday for a 71-year-old man missing in the Gulf of Mexico and believed to be roughly 30 miles southwest of Crystal River.
Ernest Bishop's wife reported him missing Wednesday night after he took his 23-foot fishing boat out around 10 a.m. Wednesday from the Fort Island Trail Park.
He was supposed to return before sunset, but he never came back.
The Coast Guard launched two boats and an airplane, which found Bishop's vessel around 1 a.m. Thursday about 15 miles south of Crystal River. But, he was nowhere to be found.
In the hours since, searchers have saturated a 1,250-square-mile area.
Emergency crews with the Citrus County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are helping with the search.
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