Missing boater is rescued off Catalina Island coast; dog still missing

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a man floating in a dinghy miles off the coast of Southern California on Saturday evening, but a dog who was with him could not be found.

The pair had apparently gone missing a few hours earlier from a 34-foot sailboat in the channel between Catalina Island and the mainland, according to a news release from the Coast Guard.

Someone on the sailboat alerted the Coast Guard to their disappearance around 8 p.m.

A Coast Guard boat was launched from Los Angeles, and a second vessel, a cutter apparently already in the area, was diverted to help with the search. Air support was summoned from a Coast Guard station in San Diego, according to the news release.

A helicopter spotted the dinghy about 1,400 yards from the sailboat and roughly 18 miles east of Catalina. The person was suffering from “mild hypothermia but no major medical concerns,” according to Coast Guard officials.

But the dog could not be located and is still missing, according to Coast Guard public affairs specialist Richard Uranga.