Fears grow for three men missing on fishing trip off Georgia coast

Dalton Conway, Caleb Wilkinson and Tyler Barlow went missing last Wednesday on board the 31-foot fishing vessel the Carol Anne

Three men are feared lost at sea after they failed to return from a fishing trip off the coast of Georgia.

Dalton Conway, Caleb Wilkinson and Tyler Barlow went missing last Wednesday on board the 31-foot fishing vessel the Carol Anne, according to the US Coast Guard.

The crew of three people had rented a boat for a fishing trip and were due to return on 18 October.

The ship’s owner told officials that the crew would often extend fishing trips to “maximise their catch,” but he grew increasingly concerned when he hadn’t heard from them for six days.

The Charleston sector of the Coast Guard tried to contact the ship using VHF-FM marine radio but heard nothing back.

However, it has received one report from someone claiming they may have seen a vessel that matched the Carol Anne anchored with people aboard.

The Coast Guard has continued to search for signs of the boat around 80 miles off the shore of Brunswick, Georgia.

Days on from their disappearance, the crew’s family members are still holding onto hope that they will be found safe.

Mr Barlow’s mother, Kim Jones, told the Savannah Morning News that the search needs to continue.

“We don’t want this search to end, because we do firmly believe that God has got them and they’re just out there floating and drifting,” she said.

For Mr Barlow and Mr Wilkinson, this trip was just another day on the job, as they are professional fishermen.

The three men were hired for a fishing trip before they went missing (Dalton Conway/Facebook)

However, it was Mr Conway’s first trip.

“It’s absolutely terrifying. We are sick to our stomachs,” his partner Stevie Conway told WJAX-TV.

“Lots of tears and gatherings, getting together to try to uplift each other and stay positive whenever we’re all wanting to fall apart.”

Ms Conway told the outlet that the boat is equipped with an emergency lifeboat that carries new technology alerting the Coast Guard when it touches the water. This raft is yet to alert the officials, she said, raising hopes that they will be found safe.

The US Coast Guard wrote on X that crews both in the air and on the water had searched around 20,116 square miles for the trio, but are yet to find anything.

Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Jason Erickson told AP that it is possible the boat may have become disabled and drifted off into the Gulf Stream, sweeping it further from its intended destination.