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)