Man Found Adrift In Ocean A Week After Vanishing With Mom

One of two boaters who went missing for a week off the coast of Rhode Island has been found alive in a life raft near Massachusetts, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Nathan Carman, 22, was recovered south of Martha’s Vineyard by a passing freighter Sunday. His mother, 54-year-old Linda Carman, who had set out with him, is still missing.

The pair were last seen on the evening of Sept. 17 after embarking on an offshore fishing trip on the Chicken Pox, their 32-foot aluminum boat, the Coast Guard said.

Nathan, of Middletown, Connecticut, told the Coast Guard that their boat sank after taking on water. He was found in good condition, the Hartford Courant reported.

Search efforts for the Carmans spanned more than 62,000 square nautical miles. The Coast Guard compared it to an area “larger than the state of Georgia.”

Coast Guard Petty Officer Nicole Groll told the Courant that they will not renew their search for the mother and that her disappearance is “beyond the survivability window.”

“A decision to suspend a case is never easy,” she said. “However, we are not going to reopen the search for Linda Carman.”

Family friends described Linda and Nathan as avid fishers who would head out early in the morning or late at night to fish, according to the Courant.

Nathan Carman, who has Asperger’s syndrome, previously went missing in 2011 after his horse died. He was located unharmed in Virginia a few days later, The Associated Press reported.