Search Suspended For Missing Brown Student Off Mass. Coast
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — An intensifying winter storm Thursday shut down the search for a missing 21-year-old Brown University student whose kayak was found drifting this week a few miles off the Massachusetts coast.
The search for Dana Dourdeville of Marion, Mass., began after he failed to return from a duck hunting trip Tuesday. His mother reported him missing after she found his car parked in a lot at the West Island town beach, authorities in Fairhaven, Mass., said.
A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter also located Dourdeville's kayak about 2½ miles east of West Island. There was a single glove inside, and it did not appear the kayak had flipped.
Massachusetts Environmental Police resumed a "limited" offshore search Thursday morning, but conditions worsened throughout the day and the effort was suspended around 1:30 p.m., Fairhaven Sgt. Kevin Kobza said. He said the water temperature was 37 degrees on the day Dourdeville went missing. An earlier land search turned up nothing.
Dourdeville is a member of Brown's class of 2015 and was on the cross country team his freshman year. The website of Brown's Engineers Without Borders, a group of students and faculty dedicated to using engineering for social and environmental good, lists him as a member.
"EWB is a great way to stay in touch with real-world needs and our responsibilities to assist with those needs while having a great time at school," Dourdeville says in his bio.
University spokeswoman Marisa Quinn expressed concern Thursday for Dourdeville.
"Our thoughts are with Dana and his family at this difficult time," she said in an email.
Dourdeville was the valedictorian and a standout athlete at Old Rochester Regional High School in Mattapoisett, Mass., according to the Standard-Times of New Bedford (Mass.). He ran cross country and track. He was runner-up as the Massachusetts State Division II Cross Country Championships.
In his address to the graduating class in 2011, he evoked the "fundamental truths" of "Star Wars" and spoke to "facing your fears ... making the honorable choice" and treasuring the bonds of family and friends, the paper reported.
"Dana is a once-in-a-career kind of student. He epitomizes everything you look for in a student. Everyone at Old Rochester is proud of him," Principal Michael Devoll said Wednesday night. "He's a beloved member of our school community."
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