Coast Guard search expands for missing Florida paddleboarder

The U.S. Coast Guard is asking for the public's help in locating a 29-year-old paddleboarder from Miami who was reported missing.

The Coast Guard released a flyer Tuesday containing a photo of the missing man, who is identified only by his first name, Luciano.

They say he was last seen Monday spearfishing on an aquatic, orange paddleboard. He reportedly left Cape Florida at 5:15 p.m. on Pines Canel in Key Biscayne, Florida. The Coast Guard continues to search for Luciano using air and surface crews.

Luciano has short brown hair, a trimmed beard and mustache, and brown eyes. He was wearing a light gray “Reef Cheefs” long-sleeve rashguard shirt with gray shorts when he disappeared.

He is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs approximately 200 pounds. His Facebook page includes photos of him spearfishing, paddleboarding and diving underwater. Luciano also lists himself as vice president of a general construction and development company in Key Biscayne.

“If you are heading toward or flying over water, be vigilant,” the Coast Guard said in a news release. “This request extends to anyone in the waterways off Miami, South Miami, the Florida Keys and even as far as Bimini and the Bahamas.”

Anyone with information on Luciano's disappearance or whereabouts is asked to call the Key Biscayne Police Department at (305) 365-5555 and the U.S. Coast Guard at (305) 535-4300 or at (786) 316-1074.

On Friday, three Alabama men, Harold Denzel Hunter, 25, Jemonda Ray, 24, and Marius Richardson, 24, drowned after being caught in a rip current while swimming at a beach at night from the Florida Panhandle. The coast guard responded to a distress call around 8 a.m. on Saturday and, although they managed to find the men, they all died on arrival at hospital.

In an unrelated accident, a Pennsylvania couple, Brian Warter, 51, and Erica Wishard, 48, drowned Thursday while swimming off Hutchinson Island on Florida's southeast coast . They were on vacation with their six children, including two teenagers, and were also caught in the flow. The teenagers managed to escape the current but were unable to save their parents.

Martin County Ocean Rescue claimed to have performed lifesaving measures on the couple, but Warter and Wishard were pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Understanding the dangers of rip currents is crucial for beachgoers. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the rip current can reach speeds of up to eight feet per second.

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