Dive teams join police, volunteers in search for missing boater James Jaronczyk in Great South Bay
Boats search the waters off Babylon Cove on Wednesday for signs of boater James Jaronczyk, who has been missing since May 7. Credit: Newsday/John Paraskevas
Police and family members of James Jaronczyk kept searching the Great South Bay off Babylon for a fourth day Wednesday, joined by volunteers and private dive teams using sonar to look for the missing Massapequa boater.
The family called a private search and rescue team from Pennsylvania-based Christian Aid Ministries that arrived with two boats and dive teams early Wednesday, after midnight. Joe Jaronczyk, the boater's father, said the teams are using high-tech sonar to scan the ocean floor and rovers that can search underwater.
Four Suffolk police boats and a police helicopter also surveyed the water along with more than 100 volunteers on watercrafts of all varieties. A Riverhead Fire Department drone also flew over nearby marshes and islands.
James Jaronczyk, 28, was ejected from a 22-foot Progression boat about 4:30 p.m. Sunday while boating from Babylon to John J. Burns Park in Massapequa when his boat hit a wave about 600 yards offshore near the Babylon Village Pool, his father said.
Joe Jaronczyk said his wife still holds fast to the belief that her son could be found alive, but he realized the water temperature and the time in the water may have been too much for his son to survive.
Missing boater James Jaronczyk's mother, Roseanne Jaronczyk, waits at Babylon Cove Tuesday while the search continued. Credit: James Carbone
“We’re clinging to the hope of a super miracle, but the reality is we've shifted into more of a recovery mission than a rescue,” Joe Jaronczyk said. “He’s been in the water for three days. We’re still trying to figure out why he went into the water and didn’t come up.”
The U.S. Coast Guard ended their search Monday night, but police and volunteers did not have any plans to suspend the search.
As the search continued Wednesday, Joe Jaronczyk said the family was not giving up. His son's sunglasses were found floating in the water Monday afternoon, near where he was ejected.
His father urged anyone who may find his body to leave it undisturbed and alert authorities.
Flyers for boater James Jaronczyk, who has been missing since May 7, are posted all over Babylon Cove as the search for hm continued on Wednesday. Credit: Newsday/John Paraskevas
Missing person flyers were posted around Babylon and the family hoped James Jaronczyk may possibly show up in a hospital as a John Doe.
Calls for volunteers were posted online, including a Facebook boating group that was soliciting volunteers who had a boat, Jet Ski, kayak, drone or scuba gear to assist in the search in a grid area along the bay.
Joe Jaronczyk said he was touched by the outpouring of volunteers.
“I've learned more about my son the last three days and the lives he touched,” he said. “I’m proud of the man he was and the lives he touched. It’s incomprehensible why it happened. He was too good for this world and maybe God had a better need for him.”
With Robert Brodsky
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.
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