Rescuers are searching by sea and air for a missing paddle boarder off Atlantic Beach.

Officials say Gary Turkel, 41, was last seen paddle boarding over the weekend near Ocean Boulevard.

At 6:15 p.m. Sunday, the fire department got a report of a missing person in the water.

A family member called local authorities and stated Turkel had gone out on a paddle board near the coast of Atlantic Beach and had not returned. A lifeguard on Atlantic Beach reported, he had last seen Turkel at approximately 3:30 p.m. on the paddle board without a life jacket.

The Coast Guard said Turkel was last seen wearing blue shorts and a white T-shirt, but without a life jacket, by a lifeguard at Atlantic Beach and said watch standers with the Coast Guard were notified by Nassau County fire officials of the disappearance at about 6:15 p.m.

Dozens of Shomrim volunteers have joined the search, with volunteers from Flatbush, Lakewood, Passaic and many other areas. Volunteers are operating on private jet-skis, boats and coming the beaches on ATV’s.

Multiple types of crews and rescue craft have taken part in the search, among them a 47-foot motor lifeboat from Station Jones Beach; an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Atlantic City; the Coast Guard cutter Bonito, an 87-foot patrol boat out of Montauk; and a twin-engine turbofan HC-144 Ocean Sentry search aircraft from Air Station Cape Cod.

Crews from the Nassau County police marine and helicopter units and members of the Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department also were dispatched.

The command center has been set up at 1605 Ocean Blvd, Atlantic Beach NY, and search operations are being coordinated from this location.

Please say Tehillim for Chaim Yosef ben Esther Malka.

(Dov Gordon – YWN)