Boy still missing in the Gulf

Longboat Key Fire Rescue and other emergency crews are still searching for a six-year-old boy that got caught up in a current Saturday night in Longboat Pass. 

Lamontea Taylor, 6, was playing in the water with three cousins around 6:30 p.m. Saturday near the south end of Coquina Beach on Anna Maria Island when he got swept into a current in the pass, according to a press release. The area where the boys were swimming had ‘No Swimming’ signs posted and family members said they thought the children were somewhere else at the time of the incident. 

Rescue crews were able to save the three cousins, but couldn’t locate Taylor. 

Fire and police crews from Longboat Key, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Coast Guard searched for Taylor until almost 11 p.m. Saturday before resuming the search at daybreak this morning. 

The current search area is from Bradenton Beach on Anna Maria Island to Whitney Beach on Longboat Key, both in the Gulf and in the Intracoastal Waterway. 

Longboat Key Fire Rescue Chief Paul Dezzi reported there has been no sign of the boy as of 1 p.m. Sunday and the search will continue all day. 

For updates, check www.yourobserver.com and pick up a copy of Thursday’s Longboat Observer.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].