Updated 6/8/17 at 1:23 p.m.

Candy Thomson from the Department of Natural Resources Police confirmed the body of Thomas Dean Jr., aka “Topper”, 44, of Dameron, was recovered around 7:00 a.m. this morning in the vicinity of where the vessel capsized on Wednesday.

The Coast Guard took over the official search and investigation from Natural Resource Police around 7:00 p.m. Wednesday evening because the boat was a commercial vessel.

It’s still unclear what caused the boat to sink near St. Jerome’s Neck in Dameron. Four people were on board at the time. The other three victims were rescued from the water and are now home.

Stay with TheBayNet.com as more information becomes available.

Dameron, MD 6/7/2017- What is known: Water Rescue

At approximately 10:07 am today, a distress call went out for a 30-foot vessel that had capsized off of the area near St. Jerome’s Neck in Dameron, MD. Four people were on board, and when rescue units arrived, three passengers were rescued. A fourth person; a male in his 40’s; was missing and last seen with a life ring before the four passengers got separated by the currents.

The known units responding to the water rescue were; Ridge Volunteer Fire Department, Ridge Volunteer Rescue Squad, Company 3 (Bay District), Seventh District Rescue, Chief 12 (Calvert) St Mary’s County Brush 3, United States Coast Guard, a naval vessel, a Natural Resources vessel, units from Charles County, and at least one search helicopter. A dive team was also dispatched. 

At approximately 11:00 a.m. a diver entered the water to search around the capsized vessel and the report came back negative. At the same time, a grid search laid out from Baltimore; was started, along with units beginning to search the shoreline and small creeks. A life ring was found; however, it is unknown if it belonged to the missing boater. 

Just after 12:00 p.m., it was reported the Department of Natural Resources Police had spoken with the three victims at the hospital and the description of the missing boater was revised. 

Units on the scene are using side-scan sonar, and rafts to search the waters in the area.

 

At this time there will be no more updates on this article until an official Press Release is made. 

You can read the original article with timed updates here.