FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The search for a South Florida millionaire whose boat was found run aground on Fort Lauderdale Beach was suspended late Thursday.
Fort Lauderdale police said they received a report at 1:15 a.m. that a boat had washed ashore in the 300 block of South Atlantic Boulevard.
Guma Aguiar, 35, of Fort Lauderdale, had reportedly gone out on the boat about 7:30 p.m., police said. Aguiar has not been seen since then.
Sea Tow said nothing seemed out of the ordinary aboard Aguiar's boat, except a broken tie rod, which keeps the two motors parallel. Without the tie rod, boaters said, Aguiar could have been tossed overboard.
On Thursday morning, the Coast Guard cutter Dolphin was searching off Fort Lauderdale, while a Coast Guard airplane joined the search from the air.
Crews were mapping out an area where the current may have taken Aguiar since Tuesday.
Investigators said they have not found any signs of Aguiar.
A Coast Guard vessel out of Fort Pierce was also being used to search for Aguiar.
Aguiar made millions in energy and donated much of it to Israeli causes, including sponsoring an Israeli soccer team. He also donated money to the Chabad Lubavitch of Fort Lauderdale.
The assumption is that Aguiar was aboard his boat Tuesday night.
The Coast Guard suspended the search just before 9 p.m. Thursday.