VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Feb. 6 (UPI) -- The search ended Tuesday for a U.S. harbor pilot who fell from a rope ladder while transferring from a launch to a ship at the entrance to Delaware Bay.
His body was not found.
Lynn Deibert of Virginia Beach had been a pilot for 25 years and was president of the Chesapeake & International Pilots Assoc., the Virginian-Pilot reported.
Deibert disappeared on Sunday about 2 miles off Cape Henlopen in Delaware. He was apparently struck by the launch that had brought him out while he was climbing a ladder to board the Energy Enterprise, a collier on its way to Baltimore.
The Coast Guard said the weather was rough at the time with 6-foot waves. But Roger Warren, vice president of the pilots association, said the transfer should have been a routine one.
The Coast Guard used aircraft and boats to search the area for a total of 14 hours.
