Search for man who fell overboard southeast of Halifax handed over to RCMP

A search by air and sea for a Seaforth, N.S., man who fell off a fishing vessel about 65 kilometres southeastof Halifax has been scaled back, according to Joint Task Force Atlantic.

The exhaustive search lasted 23 hours but the man still hasn't been found,the task force said on Twitter around 9:15 p.m. onFriday.The search has been handed over to Halifax District RCMP as a missing person's case.

RCMPidentified the man as 58-year-oldReid Steward Patterson.

Patterson was swordfishing on the boat Miss Gracewith two other peoplewhen he fell into the water around 10 p.m. Thursday, police said.

The Miss Grace has returned to shore at Three Fathom Harbour, a small fishing community about 35 kilometres east of Halifax.

It's not clear how Pattersonfell into the water, butMaritime Search and Rescue said he wasn't wearing a life-jacket at the time.

The call for help went out as soon as the otherson board realized hewas missing.

Searchersscouredan area that's about 500 square kilometres beginning Thursday night.But thick fog made it hard to see, with visibility down to about 100 metres.

"The air assets actually came on scene overnight but the search conditions were so poor that they returned to Greenwood, the fog was so significant," said Mark Norris,officer in charge of the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax.

About 11 fishing vessels stayed on scene overnight, and several planes joined the search Friday morning.

Searchers weren't able to locate Patterson, but did find what they believe is his boot.

Could likely survive for 22 hours

Marc Ouellette,regional supervisor for Maritime Search and Rescue,said the water wasabout 15 C on Friday.

Using software, the search and rescueteam is able todetermine how long a person is likely to survive in the water.

"Best-case scenario, if he did have something to stay afloat with, basically gave him a survival time of approximately 22 hours ... which is why we're going to push until sunset to continue actively searching," Ouellette said earlier on Friday.

A team of investigators with theTransportation Safety Board of Canada wasin Three Fathom Harbour on Friday afternoon to gather information about what happened.

Capt. Shannon Pittman, senior regional investigator with the board, said the investigation is in its early stages.

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