Search launched for 4 people missing after fishing trip in Dominican Republic

4 missing while fishing in Dominican Republic

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for four people, including two U.S. citizens, who went missing on a fishing trip off the Dominican Republic’s southern coast.

The Coast Guard says Robert Wayne and Laura Ricart left Boca Chica with Spaniard Javier Jorge and Dominican Plinio Jacobo, aboard a 24-foot (7-meter) boat.

Coast Guard spokesman Ricardo Castrodad says Dominican authorities are helping with the search.

He said Saturday that the group left Thursday morning and was expected back the same afternoon.

Castrodad says Wayne is from Florida, although his hometown is unknown. Ricart is a U.S. citizen born in the Dominican Republic and is married to Jacobo.