Sheriff’s Office and Sarasota Police Department assist with search off Siesta Key
At 1:33 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1, the Sarasota County Fire Department alerted personnel to a report of two females who had ventured into the Gulf on a raft and apparently had been unable to get back to shore.
The individual who called 911 said the females had left Turtle Beach about two hours earlier, the formal Fire Department report says.
With two engines and two EMS units having been dispatched to 8862 Midnight Pass Road — the location of Sarasota County’s Turtle Beach Campground — firefighters/paramedics were unable to find anyone in distress, the Fire Department report’s narrative points out.
Engine 13, which is based at the fire station immediately south of Siesta Public Beach on Beach Road, “and multiple other units” responded to the alarm, the narrative notes. The personnel with Engine 13 and Rescue 13 arrived at 1:39 p.m., the report says, and began searching the campground and its parking lot for the person who made the 911 call and found nothing.
A person using the Beach Patrol’s jet ski located two individuals who were kayaking approximately 200 yards from the shoreline, the report adds, but they were not in distress.
Then a Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office drone was deployed to search 10 miles out in the Gulf, the report continues. Still, it says, noting was found.
Further, personnel on a Fire Department boat searched 10 miles out in the Gulf and confirmed that they could find no one matching the description provided by the caller.
Personnel also checked the Turtle Beach Park boat ramp, the report says, but they found only “a lot of paddle boarders.”
A note in the report adds that a Sarasota Police Department Marine Unit checked the southern portion of Big Sarasota Pass, as well.
When a member of the Fire Department tried calling the person who had made the report to 911, the Fire Department narrative continues, that person did not answer. A note in the report does say that the caller had advised the 911 dispatcher that her phone was down to a charge of 1%, but she would call back if she learned anything new.
Having found no sign of the individuals on the raft, the report continues, the search was called off. The last unit cleared the scene at 2:09 p.m., it adds.