[fishaholic18]

Update is not good:

No Sign Of Missing Students In Overnight Search
Rowboat Found Floating In West Passage

POSTED: 10:13 am EST March 13, 2006
UPDATED: 6:29 am EST March 14, 2006

NARRAGANSETT, R.I. -- Coast Guard crews searched Narragansett Bay overnight for three University of Rhode Island students who disappeared early Monday after getting in a row boat after a party.

Narragansett police are returning to the bay campus Tuesday to resume the search for the three students.

Police identified the missing students as Daniel Donahue, 20, of Smithfield, Geoffrey Wilkes, 18, of Glocester, and Fandia Shloul, 21, of Pawtucket.

Rescuers searching the bay and a nearby island found a partially submerged aluminum row boat more than 1,000 yards off shore along with an oar, a ball cap and a sandal. Thick fog forced a Coast Guard helicopter to return to base Monday afternoon.

Authorities said the chances of survival were diminishing if the students never left the 40-degree water. Coast Guard officials said the search will continue as long as seas are safe.

"As you might expect, a lot of the problem is the uncertainty," Narragansett Police Chief David Smith said during a news conference. "We all hold out hope, but not knowing is probably the worst part" for the students' families.

The search began before sunrise Monday after a security guard at URI's Narragansett Bay campus heard people talking off shore about 2:30 a.m. but didn't see anyone through the fog, URI President Robert Carothers said. Coast Guard officials said the voices sounded distressed.

About 30 minutes later, the guard heard what he thought was a moan from the same area and called the Coast Guard, Carothers said.

The search turned up the row boat, said Tom Guthlein, commanding officer of a Coast Guard station in Newport.

The boat appeared sea worthy, but the passage is frequently traveled by larger vessels, Guthlein said. Fog reduced visibility early Monday morning to as little as 50 yards.

A fishing boat passing through the area in the early morning reported spotting an obstruction in the water, officials said. But the fishermen couldn't positively identify the object in the dark and fog.

Authorities didn't believe the boaters were wearing life jackets.

"We're all hoping that whoever is involved in this is on the shore," Carothers said.

Donahue and Wilkes study environmental life science and Shloul studies nursing, school officials said.

The students were attending a small, off-campus party early Monday morning at Bonnet Shores, a waterfront neighborhood just south of the Narragansett Bay campus, Narragansett Police Chief David Smith said.

Friends of the missing students discouraged them from launching the boat, authorities said. Smith said the boat did not belong to the students.

Fellow URI Students Keep Vigil For Missing Peers

The missing students were all native Rhode Islanders just starting spring break.

Sam Scibarassi, who owned a pizza shop in which Shloul worked, called her, "a wonderful girl."

"She was full of life," he said.

Shloul worked in the Narragansett pizza shop a couple of days a week for the past three years. In fact, she was scheduled to work a 5 p.m. to midnight shift on Monday.

"A lot of people that work here, you know, have called in, and they can't work," Scibarassi said. "They're a mess. The staff -- we're pretty upset about it."

Bobby Sheehan, who was friends with all three missing students, was especially upset.

"They were good people," he said. "I hung out with all three of them at least once or twice a week so."

Donohue and Wilkes are from Glocester, while Shloul is from Pawtucket.

All three disappeared early Monday after getting in a rowboat after a party near the University of Rhode Island's Naragansett Bay campus. Friends gathered at the Bonnet Shores neighborhood where the party was held.

Many lined the foggy shoreline with brown paper bags filled with lit candles, hoping for the best.

"I'm very hopeful, very hopeful," said one person. "I was there this morning when I heard about it."

On Web sites such as MySpace and FaceBook, where the students had Web sties, other friends posted their own messages of hope.

"It's tough," said one person. "It's a tough thing for everybody. Hopefully, it will turn the way everybody wants. I'm just keeping hopes up."