TAMPA, Fla. — A body found Sunday night during a search was confirmed to be a shrimp boat captain that went missing, Tampa Police said Monday.
Officials said the body of Curtis Lee Cowling was recovered from a boat that went underwater in the 2600 block of Causeway Boulevard. They added there were no signs of foul play, but they are still investigating.
"Although our Dive Team members, joined by multiple agencies, all worked tirelessly in their efforts, we now share in the sorrow of this tragic outcome," Chief Lee Bercaw said in a press release. "Our thoughts and concerns are with the family and friends of Captain Cowling during this difficult time."
Over the weekend, officers were called to the area after they got several calls about the boat.
Officers got to the scene early Saturday morning and found the 63-foot boat "Miss Jordi" underwater. Cowling was declared missing and endangered. He was last seen at 11 p.m. on Saturday night.
Police said on Monday morning that a body was found in the submerged boat just before 10:30 p.m. on Sunday evening. Police didn't immediately release the identity of the person found, pending next of kin notification.
Clean-up efforts are still underway Monday after the boat leaked thousands of gallons of diesel fuel into the water. Police said the spill was successfully contained to the McKay Bay area on Monday.
"We hired pollution responders as well as our own pollution responders. And they're out there, they deployed about 900 feet of boom around the sunken vessel to contain any sheen that comes out of the ship. The weather has been super nasty, but that kind of works in our favor. So anything that may be seen down aways, we have our pollution responders walking and looking for known collection areas to also have clean up and they'll deploy absorbent pads and other boom and other areas that they see," said Nicole Groll with the US Coast Guard.
Groll says the weather will also help the the diesel fuel to naturally dissipate.
The fuel spill prevented dive teams from entering the water over the weekend, police said. It was being treated as a HAZMAT scene at the time. Police said specific details on the HAZMAT issue will be released by the Coast Guard.
"The maximum capacity of the vessel is 10,000 gallons. However, based on accounts from the owner, we believe only 2,000 gallons were on board. As far as how much has already leaked out of the vessel, at this time, we're not certain," Ensign Trent Tatro, U.S. Coast Guard, said over the weekend.
Officials believe Cowling lived on the boat full-time.
"Typically, when tides rise and the currents and the wind picks up, the vessels start to move around quite a bit. They can bang into nearby objects. If the vessel is not structurally sound, it can cause it to submerge," Tatro added.
ABC Action News spoke to others who work at the Tampa Shrimp Docks. They say Cowling, or CC as they called him, was a kind man and like family. They also say Cowling bought food for everyone and had everyone come together for dinner the Friday before he died.
The Tampa Bay area experienced rain all day Saturday, with some severe storms overnight into Sunday morning. Our area saw anywhere from one to seven inches of rain, with winds that gusted up to 40 miles an hour at times. The US Coast Guard continues to investigate what exactly caused the boat to sink.
"The owner of the vessel is working with the Coast Guard and they are assessing on scene cleanup operations to include the cause of why the vessel sank," Groll said.
