Missing teen kayaker disappeared after flipping into water near Honeymoon Island: Officials

Search for missing kayaker

The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a missing 18-year-old kayaker near Honeymoon Island. FOX 13’s Kailey Tracy reports. 

DUNEDIN, Fla. - A multi-agency search is underway for a missing kayaker after rescue crews responded to a water rescue near Honeymoon Island Sunday evening.

He has been identified as 18-year-old Elias Guillermo Lara Vargas.

What we know:

Dunedin Fire Rescue says Vargas and two others left from the Gulf side of Honeymoon Island on Sunday. 

Courtesy: U.S. Coast Guard Southeast.

Now, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office has a command center set up there, as it helps search for Vargas.

Dunedin Fire Rescue says one of the three kayakers made it to shore. Vargas, who’s from the Citrus Park Area, and a female kayaker were trying to make it back to land. The woman’s kayak flipped and she fell into the water. As Vargas, who’s a lifeguard, tried to help her, his kayak also flipped, and he ended up in the water.

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The current separated them from their kayaks, which were later found on Caladesi Island.

The person in their group who was on shore called 911 around 6:24 p.m.

When Dunedin Fire Rescue’s fire boat got there, the agency’s spokesperson said it had to slow down because of the conditions. There was a small craft advisory, waves were three to five feet high, and winds were more than 20 mph.

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The crew heard the female kayaker calling for help and found her in the water off of Dog Beach on the south side of Honeymoon Island. They threw her a rescue ring and were able to bring her on board the boat around 6:45 p.m., warm her up and start treating her for exhaustion and hypothermia.

Clearwater Fire & Rescue’s boat got there not long after and took the woman to a waiting ambulance that brought her to the hospital. It then came back and helped Dunedin, the PCSO, the Coast Guard, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and a couple of other fire agencies search for Vargas.

What they're saying:

"The crew saved her life. There’s no doubt," a spokesperson for Dunedin Fire Rescue said about saving the female kayaker. "We were very lucky to have found her based on the height of the waves and the conditions out there."

A spokesperson for the Coast Guard says they searched through the night with their aircraft and have a helicopter on scene still helping with the search.

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According to the FWC, due to weather and water conditions, the water search was suspended around 9:30 p.m. Sunday and resumed Monday morning.

What you can do:

Anyone with any information is asked to call Coast Guard Sector St. Pete at 866-881-1392.