Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries enforcement agents found the deceased body of a missing boater in Plaquemines Parish this morning, May 5.
LDWF agents along with the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office and LDWF Wildlife Division staff found the body of Donald Tabb, 85, of Baton Rouge, around 10:30 a.m. near the Southwest Pass over 10 miles from where he was reported missing.
Tabb had been missing since May 2 when he was a part of a fatal boating incident near South Pass. Tabb, John Frey, 86, of Magnolia, Texas, and a survivor from Baton Rouge were on a 27-foot vessel when they capsized around 7 a.m. on May 2 about a half mile from South Pass in the Gulf of Mexico.
The survivor was able to retrieve Frey and get him to shore where he was unresponsive and pronounced dead by a medical examiner on the scene. Tabb went under the water and never resurfaced.
Frey and Tabb’s bodies were turned over the Plaquemines Parish Coroner’s Office to determine an official cause of death.
LDWF will be the lead investigative agency for this boating incident. None of the men were wearing a personal flotation device at the time of the incident. It is unknown at this time what caused the vessel to capsize.