Search for missing boater scaled back

Niagara police are searching for a missing sailor three days after he disappeared during a violent storm. He was sailing in the Grimsby area Friday evening and didn’t return on schedule. Since then, crews have been looking for him on both land and water.

The coast guard completed its search Saturday evening. they scoured the waters until there was almost no chance of finding a survivor. Niagara police have taken it over as a missing person’s case, searching for Ivan Batusic on land and in the water. And until they find something that tells them to stop, they’ll keep looking.

When Marinko Vrbanic heard his friend Ivan Batusic hadn’t returned from an evening boat ride, he was surprised, but not stunned. He says the 47-year old loved to sail in rough waters: “There was no fear. He liked that strong wind and rough water.”

Batusic’s boat was found around midnight Friday by the coast guard. They were on the lookout since he was overdue to return to Fifty Point and a heavy thunderstorm had struck the area. His boat turned up around Jordan Harbour, but Batusic was nowhere to be found:

Marinko Vrbanic: “On the mast, there was a winch that was off. It was unscrewed or fell off.”

After inspecting the boat, Vrbanic believes his friend climbed onto the deck to fix the mast and fell off. He is holding out a glimmer of hope, but believes his friend is dead.

Police are searching for him, or his body, along the shoreline from Port Weller to Grimsby. Without hard evidence, there are many unanswered questions about what happened, including why his life jacket and tether were found on the boat.

Marinko Vrbanic: “He always had a life jacket. He always had a harness when he was by himself. And he was always saying that he always did that safety procedure. This time, for some strange reason he didn’t do it.”

Niagara Police Marine Units and Batusic’s family are urging people to keep an eye out for him in case he is alive and on land.