Virginia couple sailing to the Azores missing after reporting rough weather
The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a couple who went missing after setting sail for the Azores, Portuguese islands in the North Atlantic, officials said.
The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a couple who went missing after setting sail for the Azores, Portuguese islands in the North Atlantic, officials said.
Yanni Nikopoulos and Dale Jones, both 65-year-olds from Virginia Beach, Virginia, reported hitting rough weather about 460 miles east of the Virginia Coast on June 13, said Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Connie Terrell.
They set sail from Hampton, Virginia, June 8, with plans to reach the Azores and then sail on to Greece, she said. Jones' daughter reported Friday the pair had been incommunicado for days, the Coast Guard said in a statement Tuesday. The daughter declined to comment.
The couple's boat, Kyklades.U.S. Coast GuardTerrell said a Coast Guard HC-130J plane conducted search and rescue flights over the area where the couple reported rough weather took place Monday and Tuesday, but no evidence of them or the boat was found.
According to Jones' Facebook page, the couple had been refreshing the wooden monohull sailboat at the Fort Monroe marina in Hampton before setting sail. The name on the boat's stern is Kyklades, the Greek word used to describe circle of islands at the heart of the civilization during the Bronze Age.
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