The search for a kayaker who went missing off the coast of Malibu Thursday has been called off by the Los Angeles County Fire Department, according to the Ventura County Star. Authorities identified 65-year-old Louis Robert Piatt as the man who called 911 from a kayak at 3 p.m. Thursday off the coast of Malibu complaining of chest pains. Thirty minutes later, authorities found an overturned kayak and a life jacket floating two miles off the coast.
Piatt is described as a white male, 5 feet nine inches tall, weighing 170 pounds, balding with brown eyes, according to KABC-TV Los Angeles.
An extensive joint search for the Piatt was undertaken by the U.S. Coast Guard, the county fire department and the county sheriff’s department emergency services detail.
Sheriff’s department spokeswoman Nicole Nishida said Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station officials received a 911 call around 3 p.m. Thursday from a man stating he was in the waters off the coastline in Malibu having chest pains. Thirty minutes later authorities found an overturned kayak and a life jacket floating two miles off the coast. Deputies determined the kayak was rented from a white, 65-year-old male earlier in the day and had not been returned.
Phone records indicated the man who placed the 911 call was the same person who rented the kayak. The man’s car was found parked in a parking lot nearby.
Nishida said several area hospitals were contacted, but the man was not found to be in any of them.